This may come as a suprise to some but whenever anyone asks me what the best part of our Physics A level course is I reply "the coursework". Coursework was first introduced to science in an attempt to promote the sort of higher levels thinking skills and manipulative skills that are not easily tested within a paper based examination. However, as most science teachers will recognise, this original vision has been eroded over the years: Coursework has become too formulaic and lost most of its original value - a chance for pupils to gain good marks, but little more. Girls usually love coursework, because it rewards diligence; boys hate the hard work involved; teachers dislike the marking, moderation, paperwork and mundane nature of it. This combination has probably been as much a factor in the shift of many independent schools towards IGCSE as the deterioration of the science specifications (ironically AQA Physics actually has significantly more scientific content than Edexcel IGCSE Physics).
The thing that, for me, makes our A level difference (OCR B: Advancing Physics) is the nature of the coursework: In the upper sixth it consists of a practical investigation and a research task. The coursework is by its very nature open ended and requires pupils to use their initiative. They are able to choose their work from an almost endless range of topics and, because of this, can choose topics of interest to them which they pursue with enthusiasm. The work, by its very nature, is educational: the pupils must analyse, evaluate and apply; they also need to be creative - this stuff comes from the top of Bloom's taxonomy, if you are into that kind of thing!
I am a great believer in the teaching of thinking skills, and coursework of this nature delivers those kind of skills. For me coursework does not involve two week without teaching - it is actually one of the most intense things that I do - but it is also one of the most rewarding! I am very excited by recent initiatives such as the level 3 Extended Projects and am very much looking forwarded to more involvement in them. These initiatives are nothing new however - extended project work has always been a part of some of our more forward looking qualifications and is, in fact, what coursework was originally supposed to be about.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
A new theory of space and time
I enjoy Christmas: Not because of sherry and mince pies and that kind of thing, but because it gives me a rare opportunity to think. This Christmas, whilst packing our car for the annual trip to see the in-laws, I think I stumbled upon some new principles regarding the space-time continuum:
1) The Volume of a space, as measured by the matter it contains, is not equal to the volume as given by its dimensions.
No matter how large the boot of our car, my wife is always able to fill it. Over the years my cars have gotten bigger, whilst the amount of belongings we need to pack has decreased as our children have gotten older And yet everytime we go away, even if just for the night, our boot is filled. When we first got married I had a mini - you could excuse my wife for filling that - but now we have an MPV!
2) The Principle of Marital Mathematics: 1 + 1 = 1.
Remarkably, when I voiced my concerns about whether everything would fit, my wife told me "Don't worry, it's all presents - we won't have as much stuff when we come back". Hmmm... a car full of presents.... two small children.... lots of loving relatives to visit, each baring further gifts... Clearly the usual laws of mathematics don't work here... maybe less really is more - and vice versa of course!
3) The Concept of Infinite Baggage:
No matter how many bags you have already packed, there are always "just a couple more".
4) The Concept of the Infinite Boot:
Despite the above principle I always, somehow, find room to pack everything. Well, everything that is except for two of my shirts, several pairs of my socks, the really nice trousers I was planning to wear on Christmas day, that new book that I was going to read...
Have a great New Year!
1) The Volume of a space, as measured by the matter it contains, is not equal to the volume as given by its dimensions.
No matter how large the boot of our car, my wife is always able to fill it. Over the years my cars have gotten bigger, whilst the amount of belongings we need to pack has decreased as our children have gotten older And yet everytime we go away, even if just for the night, our boot is filled. When we first got married I had a mini - you could excuse my wife for filling that - but now we have an MPV!
2) The Principle of Marital Mathematics: 1 + 1 = 1.
Remarkably, when I voiced my concerns about whether everything would fit, my wife told me "Don't worry, it's all presents - we won't have as much stuff when we come back". Hmmm... a car full of presents.... two small children.... lots of loving relatives to visit, each baring further gifts... Clearly the usual laws of mathematics don't work here... maybe less really is more - and vice versa of course!
3) The Concept of Infinite Baggage:
No matter how many bags you have already packed, there are always "just a couple more".
4) The Concept of the Infinite Boot:
Despite the above principle I always, somehow, find room to pack everything. Well, everything that is except for two of my shirts, several pairs of my socks, the really nice trousers I was planning to wear on Christmas day, that new book that I was going to read...
Have a great New Year!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
From Good to Outstanding
A few years ago I was invited to attend an INSET being ran at a nearby School. It's title "From Good to Outstanding!" Whilst many of us routinely teach good lessons (and the occasional outstanding one) there are remarkably few teachers who can consistently deliver lessons of outstanding quality. I am always on the lookout for ways to improve my teaching and so I gladly accepted the invitation to go along.
In the event, the INSET was extremely disappointing to say the least. Before I explain why, I should point out that this was not the fault of the School, or the other teachers who attended, from which and whom I learned a great deal, but rather a consequence of the way in which Schools Inspectors assess whether or not a lesson is outstanding. In short and outstanding lesson is one that achieves appropriate and significant objectives. The problem here is that it's often rather difficult to define what an appropriate or a significant objective is. As a consequence the default that is often used are the criteria laid out in the National Curriculum or in the relevant Examination Board Specification, and as a consequence the emphasis of the whole INSET dwelt upon helping pupils to understand their levels of achievement at various Key Stages. Of course achieving such objectives are essential during the course of a pupil's educations and, on the whole, the majority of the objectives laid out in the aforementioned documents are worthy. But, as any accomplished teacher knows, these objectives are, by their very nature, narrow and fail to cover many skills that we would regard as essential components of a pupil's education.
So what, in my opinion, makes a lesson Outstanding? Over the years I have observed many lessons, the best of which have shared something which I can summarize in a single word: "Interaction".
Too many lessons, including many otherwise good ones, are essentially passive in nature: Pupils listen, take notes, but fail to engage their brains. In order to learn effectively pupils have to think, and the best way of getting them to do so is to make them interact: with the teacher; with pre-prepared materials; with each other.
Science has a huge advantage in this respect because its very nature, as a practical subject, makes it highly interactive. The sign of an Outstanding teacher is that they create frequent opportunities for pupils to interact and monitor their class carefully to make sure all members of it interact - opting out is not an option.
Unfortunately many pupils in modern schools seldom have opportunities to carry out practicals, perhaps because a school does not possess the apparatus or technical support required to facilitate such activities. Health and Safety issues often mean that classic experiments are no longer performed in the classroom, including many demonstrations.
Over the past few months I have started to upload a series of short videos online, the aim of which is to allow pupils to see (or even take measurements) from a series of experiments. The videos allow the demonstration of experiments in situations where they cannot be demonstrated directly, or to recap (and pause) a demonstration that has been performed in the classroom. Surprisingly pupils tend to be more alert when watching a video of an experiment than watching the same demonstration performed "live" - a consequence, perhaps, or our media orientated society. The videos can be found either by going to YouTube and searching for Quantum Boffin or by visiting my website at www.QuantumBoffin.com. The Site is still in development, so please don't expect too much, but will be added to over the coming months.
In the event, the INSET was extremely disappointing to say the least. Before I explain why, I should point out that this was not the fault of the School, or the other teachers who attended, from which and whom I learned a great deal, but rather a consequence of the way in which Schools Inspectors assess whether or not a lesson is outstanding. In short and outstanding lesson is one that achieves appropriate and significant objectives. The problem here is that it's often rather difficult to define what an appropriate or a significant objective is. As a consequence the default that is often used are the criteria laid out in the National Curriculum or in the relevant Examination Board Specification, and as a consequence the emphasis of the whole INSET dwelt upon helping pupils to understand their levels of achievement at various Key Stages. Of course achieving such objectives are essential during the course of a pupil's educations and, on the whole, the majority of the objectives laid out in the aforementioned documents are worthy. But, as any accomplished teacher knows, these objectives are, by their very nature, narrow and fail to cover many skills that we would regard as essential components of a pupil's education.
So what, in my opinion, makes a lesson Outstanding? Over the years I have observed many lessons, the best of which have shared something which I can summarize in a single word: "Interaction".
Too many lessons, including many otherwise good ones, are essentially passive in nature: Pupils listen, take notes, but fail to engage their brains. In order to learn effectively pupils have to think, and the best way of getting them to do so is to make them interact: with the teacher; with pre-prepared materials; with each other.
Science has a huge advantage in this respect because its very nature, as a practical subject, makes it highly interactive. The sign of an Outstanding teacher is that they create frequent opportunities for pupils to interact and monitor their class carefully to make sure all members of it interact - opting out is not an option.
Unfortunately many pupils in modern schools seldom have opportunities to carry out practicals, perhaps because a school does not possess the apparatus or technical support required to facilitate such activities. Health and Safety issues often mean that classic experiments are no longer performed in the classroom, including many demonstrations.
Over the past few months I have started to upload a series of short videos online, the aim of which is to allow pupils to see (or even take measurements) from a series of experiments. The videos allow the demonstration of experiments in situations where they cannot be demonstrated directly, or to recap (and pause) a demonstration that has been performed in the classroom. Surprisingly pupils tend to be more alert when watching a video of an experiment than watching the same demonstration performed "live" - a consequence, perhaps, or our media orientated society. The videos can be found either by going to YouTube and searching for Quantum Boffin or by visiting my website at www.QuantumBoffin.com. The Site is still in development, so please don't expect too much, but will be added to over the coming months.
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