How Science Works (UK curriculum)

The phrase ‘How science works’ (HSW) was introduced into the national curriculum in 2006, making an appearance in the revision of key stage 4. The national curriculum was revisited for key sage 3 in 2008 and the term ‘How Science Works’ was again introduced also. In this new revisited curriculum HSW has shown greater emphasis on scientific processes. The main focus of HSW was that pupils should be able to learn about science and how scientists works within society, as was included by the programme of study in KS4. 

Jenny Frost (2010 ‘Learning to teach science in the secondary school’) stated:

“The science national curriculum ‘HSW’ is described under four headings.”

•  Data, evidence, theories and explanations;
•  Practical, problem-solving and enquiry skills;
• Working individually and in groups, which help with communication skills;
•  Applications and implications of science.

How Science Works allows pupils to become more attached to the science that they are learning about by relating it to their own everyday lives; Education.gov mentioned:

 “HSW should be directly related to their own lifestyles and ways of life, to be able to relate and understand more.” 

The idea (the dream)

Michael Reiss a co-editor for 'Learning to Teach Science' summarised the four bullet points of HSW as:

“how science is done and what sorts of things scientists research.” 

Reiss linked this with the idea that pupils (after leaving school) may forget about the content of science, but by the concept of HSW they will still 'hopefully' hold a view as to how science is done and to how trustworthy it is.

This can then be applied to their everyday lives eventually when they leave school; taking into account the skills developed rather than the knowledge or facts taken from books.

Should we embrace technology in schools?

 

We are in a modern era where technology seems to be advancing quickly; some see a bright, new future in education because of technology, Digitaltechlife.com (2013) stated “the younger you are right now the more likely you feel comfortable with technology and look forward to future changes it brings”.

What would this mean for the teachers of today? 

Do teachers look at technology differently to how pupils look at it. 

The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference in 2010 expressed this concern and

hastily came to the conclusion: “While today's teachers use the internet for information, today's children use the internet for gathering”. However if teachers and pupils learn to use new and emerging technology together and correctly it can be a useful tool where the teacher is needed to motivate and encourage the pupils learning; whereas pupils learning can be enhanced via the technology available today.  

In today’s society, technology is not completely taking over traditional methods of teaching but can be used to enhance learning.

Spencer, J. (2012) had mentioned in his book "Can you teach without technology" ‘At this stage, technology isn't truly transformative. It's simply a faster way to do much of what we would already be doing.’ Which is very true; before pupils had to look through books (spending  a considerate amount of time searching for a answer to their questions) however now with a simple google search the answer to their questions can be found in seconds.

Some may not look upon this as necessarily a good thing, however it is the day and age we are living in.

If schools are to prepare pupils for their lives to come, there is no use hiding technonlogy away from our pupils; it is important to get pupils to use technology, but more importantly teahing pupils how to use it appropriately.

Science relating to life and achievement

Science lesson have changed a lot in the past 10 years or so, with changing curricula and new advancing ideas in science pupils are always benefiting from the knowledge taken from science lessons. The question that has to be answered is:

Are science lessons preparing pupils for their life ahead? Can the knowledge they learn from their science be brought forward to create generation of scientists with new adventurous ideas.

Ross in his book teaching secondary science mentioned “Children learn about heat and temperature, atoms and molecules, fair testing and Bunsen burners, but do not build them into everyday understanding. At best they have a scientific system that is good enough to pass examinations, but after harvesting the crops, the land is bare, the ideas are lost and everyday life is unaffected”. 

Some pupils just want to get their result and not think about pursuing science as a career or even putting forward the knowledge they have learnt to everyday life. Why would they when the things taught in science are based upon knowledge from books and not life experience (however this is changing; slowly  Pupils are being taught for exams and not for the “greater picture”. This leads on to the matter of raising achievements, pupils want to do well they want to succeed but they just cannot and some will not relate to things that they think is a waste of time. Science that is directly related to a pupil’s everyday life may encourage performance and maybe helping to raise achievement. 

Reference:

(Teaching secondary science constructing meaning and developing understanding; 2010, Keith Ross and co)

SLAVES

Ask yourself a simple question:

Do you consider yourself as ‘free’?

What does being free mean to you?

These questions really could have different meanings depending upon how you look at it. Most of us are not locked behind bars, we can go where we want, say what we want (to an extent) and believe what we want. So you would consider yourself free right?

What if I said we are a slave to society; we constantly look at society to justify our actions. We all go to school, get an ‘education’ come out, some go onto further study and some go straight into work. Others do have an idea and follow their dreams but this is the minority; the rest of us are a slave to the game. We must play along, because do we really have an option not too?

Maybe the definition of a slave will bring more light to the subject:
Slave: A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. (Oxford Dictionaries)
Unfortunately there are people who are still slaves on this Earth and its sad how we can say we are moving forward when this is still prominent.

Yet; there is a new type of slave emerging, one owned by society, one who is said to be free; have freedom of speech, but yet some of us as individuals are still feeling frustrated at the end of the day because of disliking our jobs, or what ever it is we have to do to earn a living. So why can’t we just change jobs/careers or find alternative ways to survive? It’s difficult because society makes it difficult, because society owns us and it’s so hard to break free from these chains.

Think! have your say.

Believe

I can’t begin to express the importance of self-belief.

I can assure you that the saying “if you have never failed, you have never lived” is to some extent the truth of what it means to believe in yourself. All of us have our failures and no one should be ashamed of failing. What you should be ashamed of is not trying. We all must try, we all must believe in our own capabilities, if you don’t then maybe it’s time to start; as you do so you will notice a change in the very person you are.

One of my favourite inspirational quotes was by Will Smith:

“It’s very simple, this is what I believe and I’m willing to die for it”.

Simple; yes, but very monumental and the message it contains is quite powerful. Pure belief is the ability for yourself to become anyone you believe you can be.

When you have time take a look at this video, this is amazing, a real inspiration.