Using food in science lessons - some ideas.

I enjoying teaching the Edexcel Physics units called Good Enough to Eat and Spare Part Surgery. As I teach in an all-girls school I want to ensure that my practicals appeal to the girls and using food to illustrate physics principles manages that.

During this term I have used golden syrup to calculate viscosity and strawberry laces in a Hooke’s Law investigation. Using Crunchie bars to represent bones is also part of the scheme of work. The strawberry laces doesn’t need to be restricted to an A-level scheme of work, and could be used to extend Year 7 or primary students too. If you find the strawberry laces are not strong enough on their own then it is possible (if a bit sticky) to plait them to make them stronger. Of course, this also leads to a second possible experiment finding the relationship between ultimate tensile stress and number of strawberry laces used.

Some of the students I teach are from Hong Kong. Using sweets as props to go over the key language relating to material science has been very useful. One student explained to me that tough, strong and stiff all have the same meaning when using her translating device.

However, my experience using sweets doesn’t stop there. My step-daughter’s history teacher asked the class to create a model of a castle, she created one out of cake and biscuits, as cooking is turning into a big hobby of hers. This particularly caught my imagine when I saw the same thing being done by  science teachers when asking students to make a model cell cell cake via a link on pinterest and again when a student of a friend brought to school a “sweet” pathogen model. I am reliably informed that asking students (and indeed student teachers) to build models helps to bring out misconceptions. 

I have also seen “sweetie” blood produced by teachers in the past, a recipe I found on the internet suggests the following:

To represent plasma use water

To represent ions use sugar, salt, oil and protein shake mix 

To represent red blood cells use red jelly beans

To represent white blood cells use mini marshmallows and

To represent platelets use white rice.

A colleague has also used sweets to create models of the atom, including strawberry laces for electron shells. A different version is shown in the image to the left.

I have been using golden syrup in other ways to demonstrate the movement of plate tectonics using biscuits on golden syrup. This is an idea from the website: http://www.earthlearningidea.com. 

I feel that it shows brilliantly how the tectonic plates move slowly as it is difficult to see the pieces of biscuit move, yet taking a photo on a digital camera before and after can show the the pieces of biscuit do move. I have used this demonstration already this year with a group of Year 6 students who are following the theme of “underground”.

Physics Experiments

Asking colleagues and searching the Internet has revealed a huge number of science experiments that either involved food directly or have an alternative that uses foodstuffs and sweets.

Several colleagues use skittles or (chocolate) M&Ms to model radioactive decay. This is especially useful if the school doesn’t have enough dice to share between the students and overcomes the issue of students putting the dice that have “decayed” back in with the “unstable” dice, as the students will eat those that land writing-side up. An alternative is to use ditalini pasta, which students would not be as keen to eat and disrupt the lesson.

Measuring the speed of light is possible using a microwave with the turntable turned upside-down to disable the turning effect. For those who haven’t seen this experiment, the standing waves inside the microwave cause two melted spots on a slab of chocolate (cheese slices can also be used). The melted spots are half a wavelength apart. The frequency of the microwaves can either be found in the manual or on a sticker on the back. Speed of light = frequency x wavelength.

Putting marshmallows into a vacuum flask and pumping out the air is a great way to demonstrate the effects of air pressure.

The National STEM centre has a great video explanation by Alom Shaha of the jelly baby wave machine here: http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/2096/wave-machine A brilliant way to demonstrate transverse waves and their properties.

Not quite sweets, but I also love demonstrating the luminescence of tonic water under UV light, tap water doesn’t glow.

Lastly in my list of possible physics experiments a colleague has suggested using Oreos (as an alternative to jaffa cakes) to model the phases of the moon.

Creativity in Biology

During my career I haven’t taught many biology units, so I turned to my colleagues and friends for ideas of where sweets can be used during biology practical activities:

It is possible to create DNA from sweets as the image above shows. There are various different methods for this activity.

And http://cmaste.ualberta.ca/en/Outreach/AlbertaIngenuityResources/~/media/cmaste/Documents/Outreach/AlbertaIngenuityResources/Carbohydrate/AICCSLabActivityCandyBloodCells08.pdf is a link to a worksheet for an activity using sweets to model antibodies and antigens. 

It is possible to use gummy bears in osmosis experiments by measuring the gummy bear before and after immersing in water and salt water.

An example I have used is using sweets as san object for Year 7 students to use and write keys about in their classification modules. Quality street are good for this, or Dolly Mixtures if you are on a budget. It gives something a little more interesting than lab equipment or pictures of aliens. 

A popular experiment with interesting results is investigating the effect of pH on chicken bones. 

A lot of my biology teacher friends talk about “Reebots”. The Reebops activity helps to demonstrate how genetics is responsible both for similarities and variation among members of the same species. There is a worksheet here: http://www.bioedonline.org/resources/files/bcm-reebops.pdf and the practical biology website has a good example too. 

Chemistry Practical Activities

If you use the Wikid scheme of work in Year 7 then you will be aware that there is an entire scheme of work dedicated to food called “Cook”. Some of the topics covered relate to heat transfer and change of state, but students also get to make ice cream, investigate British vs American pancakes and look at cooking in the context of physical and chemical changes. I am a big fan of the majority of the wikid scheme.

Using food as a context for science is not just restricted to key stage 3. I teach the OCR Gateway specification at GCSE and there are sections of the first chemistry module dedicated to the chemistry of cooking. 

One of the examples involves baking powder. Instead of heating and showing the decomposition of sodium hydrogen carbonate, it is also possible to make sponge cakes in the microwave during a lesson with and without baking powder to demonstrate the purpose of adding baking powder when baking cakes.

I love carrying out the experiment where the students boil potato and see who it’s consistency changes with time and I demonstrate cooking pieces of potato in a microwave. I enjoy it because the potato usually gets so dry it sets on fire in the microwave, which excites the students. 

The scheme of work also involves students using egg white as an emulsifier.

This term Year 7 have been studying Acids and Alkalis and there are a lot of links to food in the this topic. Whether it be eating foods to establish that acids are sour, to investigating the perfect sherbet recipe, my students have found the link between chemistry and real life interesting at this early stage in tehir secondary education. I also really enjoy the lessons where students test different vegetables to see which one makes the best indicator. (I really like Ribena, but it isn’t as fun as making indicator using red cabbage).

Of course there are lots of “kitchen chemsitry” experiments that involve food, from volcanoes to making invisible ink and creating crystals with sugar. See http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/tp/kitchenscienceexperiments.htm for more ideas.

A big favourite of a chemistry teacher colleague of mine is making elephant dung using concentrated sulphuric acid and sugar.

Practical Investigations

A colleague told me of an experiment she carried out with a class to establish if a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit. Cakes get drier as they get older and biscuits go soggy. 

Using food is a great way to engage students in science.

Maths and Science 2012

I have just received my Science Activity Books from Maths and Science 2012. I am massively impressed with the books and the way they link curriculum based science to the Olympics.

I think that it is vital we support our young people in seeing the relevance of science and maths in their everyday lives. This book helps to do this a lot. the website is also excellent with resources and videos linking maths and science to the Olympics.

If you haven't seen there is an e-book version along side other activities on the maths and science 2012 website: http://www.mathsandscience2012.co.uk/


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Location:Rudgleigh Ave,,United Kingdom

What should the aims of a key stage 3 science curriculum be?

After being asked by a colleague via twitter what the aims of a ks3 scheme should be I reflected that although I have complained within this blog about the quality of the key stage 3 schemes at my school I have not written anything about what the schemes should be like.

When considering what key stage 3 should develop in my students I wrote a list of skills:
Investigating skills -
Drawing a table
Calculating averages
Drawing graphs including, choosing scales, picking the right sort of graph, drawing a line of best fit
Identifying patterns in data and in graphs
Identifying anomalies
Following a procedures/methods
Choosing equipment
Identifying variables, including ones to investigate, measure and control and the language associated with variables and fair testing
Describe how to make an experiment a fair test
Carry out a risk assessment
Using measuring equipment appropriately
Recognising the value in repeats
Understanding the vocabulary especially reliable, reproducible, repeatable, precise, valid, fair, sensitivity, and range
Evaluating procedures
Evaluating data
Comparing primary and secondary data
Making predictions and hypothesises, generating questions to investigate
Construct arguments/conclusion using evidence
Identify primary and secondary data
Communication skills -
Correctly using the language such as bias, theories, laws, principles,
Recognising bias in science articles
Using secondary sources
Identifying the work of a scientist and different types including how they work together
Describe how ideas can be developed
Use Internet and books to carry out research
And thinking skills - grouping, ordering, prioritising, classifying, identifying relationships, probability, using sizing, ratio, using abstract models

However, the vast majority of this can be found on the APP grid. (As much as this is disliked by many).

But just developing skills is not enough in my opinion. You also have to engage students in science, help them see the relevance to their every day lives. Future morph has great ideas relating science to our every day lives and sources for this, for example: http://www.futuremorph.org/teachers/viewitem.cfm?cit_id=4834

It is also vital that students get an idea of what science can and can't do; what is meant by science enquiry; and that science idea evolve and change as more evidence comes to light. To often science is taught and thought of as absolute truths, when in reality it is evolving.

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Location:Bristol, UK.

2nd in Faculty Interview

Before I go any further in this blog post, I should say that I have never been successful in a second in faculty interview. I have had many though, and of those I have come close.

I think that the second in faculty is a difficult position. You are trying to forge your own path with respect to the area you are responsible for, yet you have to stick closely to the vision set by the head of faculty and stay loyal for the sake of the cohesion of the faculty.

That begs the question "what would you do if you disagreed with the head of faculty?" I have had this experience twice now. Once I had a major and very public strop (I got into trouble but I got my own way, and it was for the best of the students). The second time I supported what was decided and just had to be there to pick up the pieces when it did fall apart. I think I made the wrong choice, I should have fought more. Any other decisions I have either gone along with and things have been fine or gone along with and what was decided has been forgotten about anyway. So my answer: You have to pick your battles. Knowing what I know now, I would always fight for what I believe is right and I promise to never let something happen again that will have a detrimental affect on the students and school. But this approach in interview is honest, yet would it get me employed?

I believe that the role of the second in faculty is to be supportive of the other members of the faculty. Mentoring people and supporting those who are struggling with certain students or topics. "How would you support a colleague that is struggling?" In most of the schools I have been to interview in this question is about showing you have empathy and can be sensitive. The most important thing is that colleagues want to go to you for support. How do you build up that kind of relationship? Not be being a know-it-all, not by making out you are superior to others.

The job of the second in faculty is often to bring enthusiasm to the faculty. Bring in and lead on innovative and new ideas, organise trip and clubs. Do the things that the head of department struggles to do as they are bogged down in paper work and the demands of senior management. So a question may involve enrichment activities.

Every department I have worked in has had issues with a member of staff. Someone seems to be the "worst". What do you do if it is you that the parents/students/LSAs/other staff complain to? In these situations I don't like to work alone, but seek support. You need to see a the any issue from all angles and an alternative voice helps that. But how do you phrase that in an interview without looking weak and indecisive?

Other questions I have been asked involve my role as a form tutor; why I want to be a teacher; describe yourself in 3 words; describe your strengths and weaknesses; give an example of something you have lead on; how do you use afl in your teaching; how does ICT impact on your work as a teacher; how can you best utilise a VLE; how do you get over your passion for science to your students; should science be compulsory at key stage 4?

A classic question is describe an outstanding lesson you have taught. But a less familiar question is describe a less that didn't go well and what you would do about it.

The big question though is why do you want to work at this school? Can you engage with the staff and students enough to show you would fit in?

Remember that being a second in faculty is about fitting in, and it is probably for the best if you get the job if you wouldn't fit in.

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What makes a good science faculty? (ofsted related post)

I wanted to write up my notes from the 2011 ofsted report about science education in the UK. This should help me gain an idea on how I need to lead my new faculty towards being a strong unit educating our students to the best of our ability.

According to the Ofsted subject report for science, high performing schools have:
i) clear priorities for raising standards
ii) rigorous monitoring and evaluation of performance
iii) challenging target setting for individual pupils (I read this as high expectations of pupil performance)
iv) strong focus on the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning
v) staff planning together and sharing practice

To me this list makes perfect sense. The evaluation is an important part. Do schools and departments really look at what they are doing and the impact it is making or do they hope that it is happening? What does it take for something to genuinely be embedded and how can you tell?

Good evaluation means that clear priorities can be set and monitoring means that we can work towards reaching them and not going off target.

In terms of working together and sharing practice, I have seen this happen and know what it can look like. Staff planning together formally because they team teach or are teaching the same topic and also informally as they sit in the staffroom and discuss lessons. However, not all of the schools I have worked in have had a culture of discussing teaching and learning. And I do have a question mark hanging over what makes the difference.

The ofsted report goes on to discuss the curriculum of an outstanding science department.
- The curriculum will be planned collaboratively using the best ideas from the team and there will be a forum for sharing practice.
- There is a 'plan, do, review' cycle of the curriculum plans
- There are cross curricular elements of the schemes of work, allowing students to see the uses of science in society
- Clubs are used to engage students with less focus and confidence in science
- Key stage 4 curriculum options are best suited to the students

It is interesting that the clubs can be used to engage less focused students, when often they are targeted at gifted and talented and/or students. This is something I plan to bare in mind. But it poses a challenge, how do you engage students in science during their own time when they won't engage in lessons?

The leadership and management of an outstanding science faculty has a long list of characteristics:
1. There is tracking of the progress and attainment of students
2. Intervention and planning is informed by this tracking data
3. There are clear roles and responsibilities within the faculty
4. A clear standard of the quality of teaching
5. Any evaluation takes into account the views of all the major stakeholders
6. There is a vision for the inclusion of all Learners, breaking down the barriers to engagement
7. Leadership will have good links with parents and other outside agencies
8. Departmental training is focused on areas that most teachers find problematic
9. The departmental handbook has (i) clear guidance on teaching and learning and (ii) procedures for assessment for informing planning
10. "How science works" is a significant part of the schemes of work
11. Management must challenge the performance of less effective teachers
12. There is a balanced view of the strengths and weaknesses resulting from systematic monitoring of standards
13. Tracking of students will focus on HSW as well as knowledge and understanding
14. Information on the progress of students should be passed on to the next teachers
15. Training of teachers gives subject leaders a better understanding of the issues effecting standards

From this list my main issue is with taking the views of stakeholders into account. I have managed to build relationships with parents in my current role by making myself available to them so I hope to do that in my next role.

The teaching in good science departments is described as having variety of activities such as presentations by students, investigative work, research, projects, use of models, demonstrations, use of video clips and other media resources, card sorts and group discussions. Teachers don't talk for too long, they manage time well and provide sufficient challenge in lessons. The departments also have lively and enthusiastic science teachers who are reflective and keen to improve. There is also good assessment, peer and self assessment as well as marking of work.

I will use this when I review what is happening in my science faculty. How enthusiastic are the staff and how creative are they in the types of activity they are using.

All of the comments made in the ofsted report make sense. But seeing them written in one place help to focus be mind and give me a vision for the development of my own faculty in the future.

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Being a good head of faculty

I start as a head of faculty on May 1st. I am excited and terrified in equal measures. I know that I have the knowledge required of me to be a head of science and also the support network in #asechat and my partner. However I want to do a really good job.

We have just had a new head of faculty this year and he has split the faculty and lowered morale. The two previous new heads of faculty that I have known have also struggled to hit the ground running. Hiding in the classrooms instead of leading from the front.

So what does it take to have a good start? I am massively lucky because I am going to have a light time table for the first term. I hope this will support me in finding out the strengths and weaknesses of the team and establishing myself as the leader of the team.

What makes the perfect head of science? Alessio recently asked this on the TES forum. The thread is here: http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/557936.aspx and my specific response is:
"Communication is really important [to be a good head of science]. Someone who talks to their staff and is aware of how they tick. A team is a group of individuals who use their strengths and interests to work together, a leader must facilitate this.
The head of faculty must be friendly and approachable, but not one of the lads/girls and certainly not have obvious favourites. Opportunities, responibsilities, top groups, praise etc need to be shared fairly.
Strong knowledge about curriculum matters and current thinking regarding pedagogy. The head of faculty doesn't need to be the best in the faculty if they have good people skills and a strong knowledge.
Most of all though a head of faculty needs to have a vision and direction for the faculty. That vision needs to be the best for the students whilst also taking consideration the work life balance of the staff."

I suppose this leads me to the question "what is my vision for science education?" which I might not be able to answer until I know more about my specific group of students and their aspirations.

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Location:Rudgleigh Ave,,United Kingdom

How do you learn to plan lessons?

We have a GTP student working with us at the moment. She is reflective and caring. My Year 12 students get on with her well and she has a very positive way of interacting with the students.
However, she is thinking about leaving the profession. The reason for this is the time that it is taking for her to plan. It seems to be taking all her time and getting harder not easier as she progresses through the course.

However, I am finding describing how to plan very difficult. I just know what I want to do. How did I learn?

I can remember struggling to plan lessons I left to the night before during my NQT year, but I always came up with something. What happened in the transition between the struggle and now when I have a clear idea what I will do in lessons up to three weeks in advance?
Is it simply experience?

Aside: it would probably help if we had complete schemes of work available to plan from and the wikid scheme is not easy for experience teachers to follow, so I can understand why a student teacher would struggle.

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Location:Bristol

Organising a teachmeet

The ASE west subcommittee have decided to organise a teachmeet. This is doesn't seem that interesting as a lot of people do this and there is a teachmeet somewhere in the country at least twice per week in the term time. It does get quite interesting when you consider that only one of the organisers know what it is and what it entails. That organiser is me, and I am not one of the main ones responsibilities.

I heard about teachmeets where I hear about most things, on twitter. The first one I went to was at Clevedon School. It was a very positive evening with a wide variety of ideas shared by the presenters. I wouldn't say my world was set alight, but it was great to be in a room with so many positive people and that is something different.

So how do you get the idea of how a teachmeet runs and how to market it across?

In my case badly, firstly my colleague didn't use the teachmeet section on the wiki website to create the pages, he made his own wiki. Secondly we all struggled to make a logo naff enough to go on the teachmeet wiki and make it into a link to our pages. Thirdly advertising seems to have been forgotten and even our own committee members haven't signed up for the event yet!

Luckily, one of the other Field Officers has come to my rescue and sent a "how-to" document. It has included things that I haven't even thought about, like who to contact at the ASE to get the email around to members that it is happening, and to make sure there are signs directing visitors.

I have to take my hat off to everyone who manages to organise a successful teachmeet: It isn't straightforward or easy.


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Location:Rudgleigh Ave,,United Kingdom

Physics education vs Science Education

I am a member of the Institute of Physics, have a physics degree and I mainly teach physics, however I consider myself a science teacher. I would say that my love of teaching is greater than my love of physics. Although I find that science principles and laws just work intriguing and that physics underpins everything interests me greatly. My students look at me strangely when I get excited by physics when principles "just work".

On Saturday I heard the President of the Institute of Physics ask for members to investigate the state of physics teaching in their local school. He indicated that he would like all members of the IoP support physics education.

During the talk we were shown facts about how there is an ever increasing number of students doing physics and a record number of physics trainee teachers, but these numbers are not enough. The upshot is that the IoP believe that there is still work needed to improve the headline figures like the number of schools with physics graduates working as teachers and ensuring all schools offer physics A-level as quite a few don't.

Sir Peter Knight would like to know:
How many students at your school sat As and A-level physics last year?
How many of the students sitting A-level physics are girls?
How do you encourage students to think about choosing A-level physics?
How many specialist physics teachers does your school have?

Once members have answered these question we are to email the answers to physicsforall@iop.org

The message behind these questions, or at least the one I heard, is that we need more physicists in the UK and the way to achieve this is to have more physicists teaching in school.

I think that it is absolutely vital that we have well trained, knowledgable teachers. However, I am not convinced that using physics graduates is the only way, and I am certainly not convinced that a good grounding in university physics makes for a good teacher.

As a teacher of science I see physics in the context of science. I want my students to see science in everyday lives. I don't teach physics because I passionately believe that everyone should love it and want to study it. Do I owe it to physics in the UK to shift my views?

When I consider the ASE presidential address and Robin Millar's points on "science for all" I am conflicted between teaching and encouraging the physics graduates of the future and teaching scientific literacy for the masses. Are the two possible and/or compatible? Maybe they should be, but I don't believe we have achieved it yet in the English education system.

Having said all of this I really appreciate all the work that the IoP are doing to support physics education. I never regret paying my £100 per year membership fee because I know they are doing good work. And since I started teaching in my school we have had 3 students apply to do physics at university, so maybe I am already doing what the IoP would like.

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How Science Works - the implementation

Following the CPD model of The Cramilington Learning Village and other schools we have an Action Enquiry Question to work on throughout the year. I have selected "How to implement How Science Works in the Curriculum".

This breaks down into several other questions: what is "how science works"? Why is it important to teach about it? How is teaching "how science works" different from what we do already? What changes do we need to make in order to implement "how science works" in the science curriculum?






I read the book in the image above about how science works and was completely sold on the importance of adding it to our curriculum and that did involve making a shift in how I think about the aim of science education.

Firstly "how science works" needs to be integrated into the curriculum and not a bolt-on. I agree with this, but it is hard to get staff to see that and not try and reach how science works by doing stand alone lessons that involve researching a topic or carrying out a full investigation with only a tenuous link to the topic being studied. For example in our key stage 3 scheme of work we have research lessons and data lessons. The objectives of these lessons often don't support the learning or consolidation of knowledge and are contrived; they feel more like ticking a box than supporting the engagement of students. The research lessons can be boring and the data lessons formulaic.

"How science works" needs to be more than doing some practicals and talking about a science related news story like global warming. It should help students become scientifically literate, and by that I mean help students understand what makes science "science".

The GCSE specifications and resources like Boardworks do try and address what science is. Schemes of work, resources and specifications ask that students be aware of the implications of science through things like the advantages and disadvantages of kidney transplants, and show how scientific ideas have developed for example the Big Bang Theory. Do we concentrate on this or only teach the bits that are examined in a way that kids will remember? If we do, is it enough to just expose students in that way?

Considering all of this, my main objective when teaching how science works is to ensure that students don't think that scientific ideas are fixed, but constantly change when new ideas are presented.

The best lesson I have taught on this was from the segue scheme about developing the theory of plate tectonics, my post-16 students see this for themselves when the turn on the news and tune into what is going on at CERN. However, it is hard to get it across to students when we teach it using language like "Newton's 1st LAW".

Finally, I really hope that I have managed to get across that science is constantly evolving and ever more complicated to a group of students I have taught from year 7 to year 11, and that this will help them appreciate science no matter whether they choose to study it further.

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What do I need what I start a new job?

I have been asked by the Head's PA at my new school to compile a list of the things that I would like for the day that I will go and visit. I will be starting as Head of Faculty.

Before I compile that list I want to think carefully about why I will need the information I ask for. My major worry is that I won't hit the ground running and put the faculty back while I learn the ropes of the new school. I know that I am capable of being a good head of faculty if I have a strategy and a good understanding of how things need to move forward. So I need to find out what is working well in the faculty and what needs to be improved.

How do I do that? More importantly how do I do it while inspiring confidence from my new colleagues and not irritating them.

The list in the ASE/SEP resource pack for Heads of Faculty involves

• School development plan 
• School handbook  
• Departmental handbook, including health and safety policies and name of radiation protection officer (if necessary) 
• 2010-11 and 2011-12 department development plans
• Exam results and any analysis student data/tracking within science department 
• Copies of any internal/external reviews on the department 
• Whole department timetable 
• Schemes of work 
• Access to class lists 
• Information on current budget information on how to bid for capitation 
• Another head of faculty to buddy up with 
• Performance management procedure 
• Observation cycles
• Copies of minutes of departmental meetings if available
• Job descriptions of the post holders I line manage

My main question though is what is expected of me. Will I be able to get that information from paperwork? 

Numeracy Across the Curriculum (ASE conference session)

Can you name all the different types of graphs and charts? I will freely admit that can't do it without support.




Do all the different types of graphs and charts have the same names in maths and science? Are the geographers and other subject teachers using the same terminology? Is it only in graphs and charts that the terminology is different?

I have well and truly had my eyes opened regarding the importance on liaising with the maths department regarding the use of maths in science. Particularly as a physics teacher. The main issues are that ofsted are now looking for consistent teaching of numeracy across the curriculum and that maths and English grades are becoming more important so we need to all be teachers of those subjects within our own.

The ofsted framework says:
Outstanding: ‘Time is used well and every opportunity is taken to successfully develop crucial skills, including being able to use their literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects’
Good: ‘Teaching consistently deepens pupils’ knowledge and understanding and teaches them a range of skills including communication, reading and writing, and mathematics across the curriculum’
Satisfactory: ‘Communication skills including reading and writing, and mathematics may be taught inconsistently across the curriculum’

The session at the ASE conference focused on the barriers to teaching numeracy in science and the way that Worcestershire LA are trying to over come them. The barriers are below:






They are working on supporting schools in aligning their maths and science curricula so that skills are taught in maths lessons before being used in science. The presenter of the course did not describe how successful this was. I imagine it is very difficult to, but still a good idea.

Better than that though, the LA advisors a putting together a resource that contains presentations of how the numeracy used in science lessons is presented in maths lessons anyhow it might be different. These resources can be used in different ways, some rooms have a display on the wall that is added to as the concepts are encountered in science lessons and/or PowerPoint slides are displayed to students during the lesson when a specific skill is required. So far Worcestershire have created about 2/3 of the resources needed to cover the numeracy required in the science curriculum.

I think that this is a really nice idea. It helps to ensure consistency, helps students to make links between their lessons, and helps to boost the numeracy of the students in general.

I really enjoyed the session, thank you to Worcestershire LA for showing the work they have done.

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ASE conference

This year's ASE conference was the first I had attended, and I can easily say it was the best CPD I have ever experienced. This was for a variety of reasons.

The highlight of the conference for me was meeting Sir Steve Redgrave. it was definitely a great draw for me. Although I had already booked to go before I knew he would be at one of the events.








He was taking part in the Wellcome Trust Lecture promoting their sport science packs that will be delivered to schools. The lecture was a good balance between interactivity, information and fun.







The science level was high because Professor Hugh Montgomery was there to explain each experiment in detail. This meant there was plenty learn even for the accomplished biology teacher, so as a physics teacher there was a lot for me to pick up on. I wish I had recorded it.

Another major highlight of the conference was being able to meet the people who contribute to #asechat. On Saturday we had an interesting conversation about the positives and negatives of using Twitter. I still believe the positives outweigh any possible negatives and find twitter and incredibly useful in keeping up to date with resources.

The inclusion of the frontiers lectures in the ASE conference is an inspired idea. There was a variety of subjects and each lecture was given by the staff of the University of Liverpool. I went to the lecture on the Large Hadron Collider, which helped to update my knowledge. (For example I now know that neutrinos have mass but that was unsure didn't when I was at university).







It is useful to know that finding the Higgs Boson isn't the end of the work particle physicists have to do, and it helped my ability to answer questions by my students. The search for the Higgs Boson is a hot topic in my classroom.  It was even better having a lecture that was at just the right pace and pitch for the audience to follow. There is a question of whether science teachers try to keep up with current developments in their subject; this lecture was such a positive way of doing that.

Apart from the entertaining aspects of the ASE Conference it was also useful to talk to the exhibiters and gain useful information. I was able to talk to OCR about the Gateway Science course. It is taking some getting used to so a few tips from the OCR team was very useful.

I attended two sessions during my time at the conference. One about numeracy in science and one about literacy. They were fantastic on many levels.

The main thing that I took away from the numeracy session is that we need a consistent approach to numeracy across the school to be "outstanding" according to Ofsted. Worcestershire LA are working on this using their advisors and several schools to build up a pack of resources that can easily be used to compare terminology and procedures in maths and science. This can only help to boost results. (Although there is no numeric data to show the impact yet, the advisors are working on this). I was intrigued by the idea of a collaborative project such as this, and feel that the federation I work in has missed a trick by not working collaboratively like this.

The literacy session was a revelation to me. There was so many techniques brought to my attention, such as speaking frames; point evidence, explanation; nominalisation (turning processes and actions into nouns); using cards to develop continuums to support the students' development of informal talk to formal writing. I have never learned so much as I did in the two hours in that session and it was worth the whole conference to me. Well done Camden and Enfield LAs.

However, the real congratulations goes to the ASE, who organised a fantastic conference. I can't wait for 2013.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Liverpool University, UK

Blogging with my class - I am stuck!

I know via twitter that lots of primary classes use blogs to help improve literacy and engagement with their classes. I thought that I would try the same with a year 9 group I have.



Firstly I checked with a member of senior management whether it would be OK. He said that I should teach the students not to use their full names, not to post images that included their faces, and to make sure comments didn't reveal where students would be at a future time. All of these rules seem to make a lot of sense to me.



I started a edublogs.org blog. There is advice on their page on how to set up the blog and educate the students how to use it. I have taken their advice and I only allow students to comment on the posts that I make. So far. After the students have learned to contribute quality comments they are allowed to write their own posts. Then it is possible to allow students to have their own blog, which is something I am not keen on.



I am still at the point where I write the blog posts and the students comment. The class seem to enjoy this, but I am struggling to get them to do more than write very simple comments and they don't respond to each other. I wonder if my issue is that I am not giving them enough time to complete the work. However, even groups who finish first don't automatically read and reply to others. I would like to see this happen.



It goes back to the classic issue of getting students to look back over their own work and act on the comments that the teacher makes. I have always struggled with this when we seem to move through topics and themes at a high rate, particularly when you might have one 2.5 hour per week.



I am pleased that I am managing to consistently use the blog with the students, once per week for half an hour.




My Year 9 blog can be found at http://missrogerson.edublogs.org

An Educational Philosophy?

On Tuesday 1st November I was set the challenge by @jwputt of writing my educational philosophy during the #addcym discussion on twitter.

In the past, when writing job applications I have split the personal statement/supporting letter into sections with sub-titles. One of those sections was entitled "philosophy". I would write:

I believe that learning is an invaluable skill for anyone to have. I actively encourage students to enquire about their subject matter; striving to make my classroom to be an atmosphere of “how?” and “why?”
I have worked tirelessly to promote a learning environment where students take responsibility for their own learning. This improved attitude has shown itself in the respect students' show to their class work and homework. I have used high expectations so that the students in my classes have a strong impression of what is expected of them both academically and behaviourally.
A major challenge obstructing achievement at the school I currently work at is low-self esteem. In order to combat this I make the students in my class feel valued and positively encouraged through the use of praise and impressing my unwavering belief in what the children can achieve.
In order to effectively learn, students require a solid foundation in numeracy, literacy and ICT. I plan lessons to involve opportunities to develop and build on these skills. The learning of key words is a main focus my teaching. I use ICT regularly within my teaching to help the students appreciate the applications of ICT beyond playing games.

I don't think that I ever considered why I taught science specifically, or the particular importance of my subject when I chose to become a teacher; I wanted to work with young people and not work in a profit motivated organisation. However, my main motivators have changed during my career: most recently I read James Williams' book called "How Science Works" and it changed my slant on teaching from seeing it only about helping young people but also recognising the importance of learning about science specifically. In between I have been inspired by learning to learn and teaching thinking skills and they skill colour what I do.

My current educational philosophy is to help young people understand the world around them. To do that I believe they should find things out for themselves, and experience the nature of scientific exploration. Teaching young people about the nature of what science is seem to me to be vital in an increasingly technological world. Solving the problems that humans have created for themselves is going to take people who can understand the science behind claims being made and their validity as well as people who have thinking skills necessary to solve problems in creative ways.

At the back of my mind when planning my lessons is how what I am doing helps my students understand the nature of science a little bit more. By doing this I hope I can build into them a natural curiosity that will help in more contexts than purely science.

What I learn from this reflection is that as I continue to teach my ideas and opinions grow and evolve. My next practical task is to understand STEM: how can maths, science and technology really work together to effectively, and more to the point, do they need to?


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Location:Rudgleigh Ave,,United Kingdom

Five Year Plan for the ASE

I am a member of the ASE (association of science education). I joined because the advice and collaboration that existed during the time of the national strategies has dried up, but the need to change and re-interpret how we teach hasn't. I am never too proud to seek advice and guidance to ensure that I am giving my students the best possible science education I can.



The ASE has been around for nearly 50 years and the present moment in history is not its strongest. The ASE seems to have lost touch with its membership as the numbers slowly slip downwards. The current financial situation doesn't help.



It is vital at this time that the ASE is restructuring and thinking about the future, not just because its own survival depends on it, but also because science education needs a body to stand up for it and keep science education relevant for both the students and industry.




The chief executive of the ASE Annette Smith writes a blog to keep members up to date with news affecting science education and the ASE in general, http://www.ase.org.uk/news/ceo-blog/. In her most recent blog post she asks:

• What is the purpose of ASE?




• What should ASE’s mission statement be?

I hope that these two questions can spark debate, helping the association understand the needs of science teachers and then in turn positioning the association so it can support them. However, with the diverse education systems and schools within the UK and the falling membership reducing the capacity of the ASE I still see tough times ahead.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Rudgleigh Ave,,United Kingdom