By Stacey Wheeler, Senior Science Technician When students come to us from year 6 they are amazed to be in a real lab; the benches, the high stools, sinks, gas taps, and all the sockets around! For some the novelty wears off quicker than others. Perhaps they realise that the stools aren’t actually that comfortable. […]
Read more Stacey Wheeler discusses common lab equipment used in practicals and rates them on usefulness, awe and wonder, and effectiveness.
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Dr Andrew Chandler-Grevatt, assessment expert and Oxford Smart Activate series editor shares his five tips to empower students throughout their KS3 science journey and progress to GCSE.
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Many students are scared of maths and do not even attempt questions with a mathematical feel. Sam Holyman shares tips on how to encourage students to give it a go in the mathematical questions in the examinations.
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Eleonora Crovato revels in those lightbulb moments when students make connections with their previous learning. In this unusual year for year 6 to year 7 transition, Elenora shares what she will be doing to prepare for September. Every September I ask my new batch of year 7s the same question: what kind of science experiments […]
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The first of a series of blogs exploring aspects of teaching and learning in the future post-covid classroom, Eleonora Crovato reflects on the role of practicals and asks: Are practicals a thing of the past? I work in a school with excellent resources and truly knowledgeable technicians – I don’t know how I would do […]
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As a teacher, I am always striving for ways to determine if students are making progress, hoping to identify those pupils who would benefit most from targeted intervention and also to give context to parents to help them understand if their child is doing OK. At my school, we need target grades for every student and […]
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In my opinion Key Stage Three is the most important time in secondary school and the time when we can have the biggest influence on students. It’s a time where we can have a significant impact both academically and socially. I even put this to Twitter and Twitter agreed: 50% of people shared this view! […]
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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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After two years of development and consultation with teachers, we have finally published the Pinch Point tasks in the Activate Intervention Workbooks and they have been very well received. If you are new to the Pinch Point concept, there is a good summary in this article [1]. At the ASE Conference 2018 in Liverpool, we were able to discuss with […]
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