Learning science involves the acquisition and retention of a large body of knowledge. To be useful, both in assessments and in everyday life, this knowledge needs to be stored durably in memory. Knowledge also needs to be accessible when attempts are made to retrieve it. Aware that students felt overwhelmed by the quantity of content […]
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It’s a bright, crisp September morning and I’m sitting in a hall, surrounded by shell-shocked teachers as we all adjust to the Autumn term and the return of our early morning get-up time. As I listen to the announcements and take part in the discussions, I realise the same words keep popping up: Ofsted, cultural […]
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Reading through the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) [1] it’s clear that there are some implications for Science departments and teachers that need to be considered. In this blog I’ll identify three key issues and discuss them. The three issues are: The 3 Is: Intent, Implementation, Impact Key Stage 3: Two Years vs Three Years Science or Biology, Chemistry & […]
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Revision. A word which probably conjures up memories of the anxious weeks before exams, frantically reading through notes wielding a highlighter in an attempt to get vaguely remembered knowledge into your head. Perhaps you did some practice questions, or maybe you felt so overwhelmed that you ended up doing nothing. Whatever your approach, you would […]
Read more If you have been roaming through the education blogosphere or edutwitter you will have started to notice an increase in the reference of SLOP. SLOP stands for ‘Shed Loads of Practice’. The term SLOP was coined by Adam Boxer and Ruth Walker in the early stages in the formation of CogSciSci , a group of teachers and academics interested in […]
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By Dom Shibli FCCT Dom is a Senior Lecturer in Secondary Science at the University of Hertfordshire. He is a proud founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and contributes to the CogSciSci website. He applauds the use of cognitive science within the teaching profession but hopes that it doesn’t become the next fad […]
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Anhydrous, exothermic, fullerene, isomerase, medulla, monomers, ribosomes, titration, xylem… How many of these words do you know? For a scientist – or even a knowledgeable GCSE science student, no less – this list of complex words will trigger a wealth of background knowledge. For many pupils, however, the same list of words would likely provoke […]
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By Sam Holyman As I settle down to my morning cuppa, one of the 100 million cups of tea that are likely to be drunk in the UK today [1], I wonder about how sustainable I am being, after I sling my used teabag straight into the black bin. Many of my friends collect their […]
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When I started teaching students with special educational needs, the educational landscape was a different place. Special schools and mainstreams were separate entities and what happened inside special schools was an enigma to mainstream teachers. For me, the transition from mainstream to special education was a challenge, and I learned from many mistakes. Fortunately the […]
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By Sam Holyman Are you concentrating at the end of term? At school we are getting ready for the new academic year, sorting labs, stock taking and making sure everything is labelled. And concentration has become the hot topic of debate! We use the term concentration all the time, and in everyday life this gets […]
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