Feeling Clueless

First lecture of the week. While it was hugely engaging, I now am feeling utterly clueless about my science knowledge.

We were focussed on science skills. It is surprisingly hard to pinpoint exactly what skill the children are learning through doing certain tasks. Some cheats however are:

• Observing = using words to describe something

• Recording = using numbers

• Conclusion = using the word 'because'

• Evaluation = anything odd which came from the investigation. What went right/wrong and what further questions were generated from it.

When planning a practical - it is worth looking at CLEAPSS and also every school should have an ASE Be Safe guide to use for risk assessments. You can even email CLEAPSS for further advise and the check if the activity is age appropriate. Important to record your health and safety considerations on the lesson plan or flip.

LOADS of lesson plans on TAPS website.

We did a couple of experiments - one was a Year 1 investigation on Transparency and the other was a Yr 6 investigation about heart rate. We then looked at which skills were being used/taught. There were definitely a lot more skills used independently by Yr 6. They have more prior knowledge and can begin to make the links.

Key in teaching science is to dispel any misconceptions (of which I clearly have many!!!!). Lessons must (obviously) be scientifically accurate. It is useful to find out the children's misconceptions. Maybe that is asking them at the start of the lesson?

We were also told about the Subject Knowledge Audit. Am somewhat nervous about this. The audit is designed to see where were need to brush up on our subject knowledge and put together a file to demonstrate how we have improved those areas. I fear my folder may be HUGE.