ERIC Number: EJ1156768
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-May
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0269-2465
EISSN: N/A
Guided Science Activities Make a Big Impact
Beverley, Nicola
Primary Science, n138 p7-9 May 2015
Many teachers and subject leaders in primary schools across England are currently struggling to get their heads around the challenges--and opportunities--of an education world "beyond levels." Central to making judgements about children's progress is a notion of security of understanding or "mastery" of the curriculum. Have children "got it" or not at any given point and in response to a planned learning sequence? Teachers need to be confident that the ongoing assessment picture they are building of children and their progress is as accurate as possible, soundly based and underpinned by a wide range of evidence of learning--way beyond tests or formally recorded work in books. Using "guided science" activities with children can help, by providing a context within which teachers question, probe and dig deeper, examine children's understandings and ultimately confirm--or deny--their initial judgements about children and their progress towards security of understanding. Guided science activities are a useful monitoring tool for subject leaders too, providing insight into progress across the school. In this article, one author introduces guided science activities, developed to help schools assess children's progress, and the other author describes how these have been successfully implemented in his school.
Descriptors: Science Instruction, Science Activities, Instructional Effectiveness, Foreign Countries, Elementary School Science, Elementary School Students, Teaching Methods
Association for Science Education. College Lane Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AA, UK. Tel: +44-1-707-283000; Fax: +44-1-707-266532; e-mail: info@ase.org.uk; Web site: http://www.ase.org.uk
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A