Copyright © UCLES 2008

Doing Practical Work in Science lessonsElaine Wilson, Faculty of Education University of Cambridge

Physics Workshops• Why do practical work? • Conceptual and procedural learning• Planning for progression • Helping students write about practical work • Data handling and problem solving• Open ended practical work

1st

2nd 3rd

4th 5th 6th

7th 8th

9th

What UK based teachers think (%)

Barriers to using practical work in rank order

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Seminar Two: Progression and working in groups

Cognitive

Affective Social

In the mind

How we feel about ourselves as learners

Learning through Social interaction

Lecture

Reading

Audio - Visual

Demonstration

Discussion

Practice

Teaching others e.g. Peer Education

Remembering

90%

70%

50%

30%

20%

10%

5%

Role play

OHP/Video

E.g.

Facts Basic Skills

Procedural Understanding: collection and validation of evidence

Substantive Understanding: concepts laws, theories

Mental Processing:Higher order investigative skills

Problem Solving

Information is transmitted

Knowledge and Understanding are constructed by the learner.

Teachers enable students to construct knowledge and understanding

Tasks 1. Measure the thickness of a coin

2. How much does one sheet of A4 paper weigh?

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Workshop Three: Language Planning for practical activity

Seeing the wood for the trees!

Language is our way of

1. Forming and developing concepts ……..

for example ‘Black Holes’

Sometimes through using metaphors

2. Expressing our understanding

3. Communicating with people

Language is

A system of symbols and rules

Language is a tool for thinking

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Workshop Four Planning practical activitiesHelping students to write

What we have discussed so far • Why include practical work? • What skills are developed? • Working in groups and talk• ‘Seeing the wood for the trees’• Simple and inexpensive practical activity

Three main purpose for practical work

Building practical work into your own scheme

Reflecting on the purpose and effectiveness of practical work

Teacher’s objective

Task

What the student actually does

What the student actually learns

Effectiveness

Writing is difficult!

Helping students to write

How do we write?

ComposeInvent

Revise

What is the purpose of the written work?

Does the student always need to write in a formal style in a passive voice?

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Workshop FiveThe current situation: Examiners reports Data Handling and analysis

‘As has been stated before, candidates are still losing marks because they do not present their calculations clearly; marks are often awarded when a clear (correct) method is seen.The (practical) paper is designed to test candidates’ practical experience; this is best achieved through the teaching of a practical course where the skills required for this paper are developed and practised over a period of time with a ‘hands-on’ approach’ Examiners Report 2009

Focus on practical papers • 9702 A level Physics • 0625 IGCE

Using simulations

Simulations and animations can offer: - the option of stepping through complex motions so that a process is seen more clearly, e.g. wave superposition in an air column - a ‘clean’ pattern with extraneous and distracting effects removed. This leads to ideas about modelling - an ability to switch easily between complementary views, e.g. electric field lines, vector forces and equipotential lines - quick and ‘live’ graph plotting to accompany motion.