Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Building Confidence in Science Practicals ‘Too often teachers have felt they have to teach didactically to get through the content of programmes of study or awarding body specifications. In the worst cases this is so that they can say they have taught it, regardless of whether pupils have understood or learned effectively. Similarly, where pupils only carry out instructions from worksheets to complete a practical activity, they are limited in the ways they can contribute. Some approaches to the GCSE also have a narrowing effect: the assessment of scientific enquiry through GCSE coursework using only a handful of experiments enables pupils to score highly but without deep scientific engagement’. (Ofsted, 2005) In May 2012 George Spencer Academy (GSA) and the University of Nottingham (UoN) embarked on some joint action research focussed on the delivery of practical work within ITT and schools. This involved understanding the reasons why teachers there is a lack of practical work completed within the classroom (Ofsted, 2005. Score, 2010). This project was match funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience and involved several aspects of action research: 1. Questionnaires for technicians, teachers and ITT students regarding confidence in practical work (May 2012 – October 2012). 2. Audit of practicals within GCSE triple science courses (September 2012 – December 2012). 3. Evaluation of practical courses for each discipline run for teachers, technicians and ITT students (January 2013 – March 2013). 4. Technical skills list for GCSE science from the list of key practicals (February 2013– March 2013). The rationale behind the study was that for NQTs to be effective and rapidly become outstanding practitioners and for students to gain and build upon these practical skills we need to enhance provision for practical work in ITT programmes. These programmes would be accessible to all ITT routes and preparing and developing future school science technicians. As well as an increased expertise in teachers as a result of the project we anticipate an increased pupil enjoyment of their practical lessons, increased attainment and increased achievement. These outcomes will have knock-on effects all the way through the science curriculum from Key Stages 2 -5. Following on from the initial project outlined here with collaboration with relevant ITT providers, discrete training sessions through the use of a database or website will be tailored to the needs of the trainees from a subject knowledge, technical ability, health and safety, investigative skills and pedagogical perspective. The training sessions will use a range of strategies from observing outstanding practical sessions taking place within a Lead School for science faculty, collaboratively planning practical sessions and team teaching effective practicals with science AST's and outstanding science teachers. This will therefore bring the skills of delivering outstanding university based sessions with experience of delivering practicals in an outstanding science faculty which is the direction initial teacher training is currently heading towards. The following report outlines the action research conducted together with the findings at each stage. 1 Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience 1. Questionnaires for technicians, teachers and ITT students regarding confidence in practical work. The findings of this study provide some preliminary data from which to begin to consider issues that might inform a strategy for promoting practical work in science classes. As noted in the introduction, this is a complex area, and one for which there is not likely to be a simple answer. One strand of discussion which the study can make a tentative contribution to is the question of whether an impoverished practical skill set presents barriers to beginning teachers adopting an approach to practical work which sees all strands of investigative science embedded in a holistic and sophisticated manner in their teaching. One argument could be that beginning teachers, the majority of whom will have attended school during the current accountability era, may not bring with them a heritage of extensive practical and investigative work from their school days. If this is the case, where and how will they develop these skills and dispositions during their teacher preparation year and then in the early years of a career? The findings indicate that for many beginning teachers there are areas of basic skills that are lacking, which could therefore lead to limited confidence in practical work. Further analysis of the subset of respondents who indicated limited confidence in practical skills at the start of the initial teacher preparation year, shows that 6 out of the 27 (22%) reported that they seldom or never practised a practical. However no correlation was found between confidence at the start of the course and the number of whole class practical lessons completed by May in their teacher preparation year. The need for beginning teachers to be confident with the range of practical activities is supported by an audit of the current triple science specifications which are increasingly taught in Key Stage 4 of secondary schools in England. Core practical activities across the main GCSE Awarding Bodies include work with the oscilloscope, potometer and van der Graaf generator. The data collected with respect to beginning physics teachers’ confidence using the van der Graaf generator is as follows: 50% very confident; 33% confident and 17% less than confident. Analysis of data collected on confidence with using a potometer by respondents who were biology specialists show that only 15.3% of respondents rated themselves as very confident or confident, and just under half of the sample (47.8%) rated themselves as having very little confidence. Thus the issues are not simply restricted to scientists teaching outside of their subject specialism. The nature of degree specialisms and the changing nature of the National Curriculum in place at the time the student teachers completed their schooling, can mean that student teachers themselves may not have a broad and balanced experience of practical work at school. 2 Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience 2 . Audit of practicals within GCSE triple science courses. The 4 major 2011 GCSE examination courses available for triple science (AQA, Edexcel, OCR 21st Century and OCR Gateway) have been audited for the number of practicals highlighted in the specification. These exclude any investigations as part of the Controlled assessment components as these are not static. The total number of practicals needed to deliver is 869 (Biology 288, Chemistry 339, Physics 242). Although each school probably only delivers one examination board table 1 shows the comparison between each examination board: Biology Chemistry Physics Total AQA Edexcel OCR Gateway 93 150 61 304 47 60 36 143 97 104 110 311 OCR 21st Century 50 24 34 108 Average 71.75 84.5 60.25 216.5 Table 1 – A comparison of the number of practicals outlined in each 2011 separate science specification As was expected due to the nature of the subject, Chemistry has the largest number of practicals both in total and on average. What was not expected was the degree of difference between the examination boards. This therefore has implications both for the teacher training programme, teachers and student progression routes. Depending on which examination board taught at each school would therefore dictate the amount of exposure to practical work conducted. Thus in the studies undertaken thus far regarding understanding why practical work is not being conducted this could be an underlying factor. Does it depend on which institution the training takes place at whether all practicals are addressed? How are the practicals teachers are not proficient in taught during training and if they are not, how does this impact on students in the future? What implications does this have on subject specialists who may have to teach outside their specialism in some schools? Further analysis to answer some these questions needed to be undertaken. This involved grouping them into key areas to avoid repetition. This led to 39 Biology, 42 Chemistry and 46 Physics practicals being identified as “key practicals” as they appear on more than one examination board specification list. It is with these lists (table 2, 3 and 4) further evaluation as to the usefulness of this action research was conducted. This yielded by participants of courses ran by George Spencer Academy and Nottinghamshire subject leaders of the following recommendations: 3 Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Table 2 - Major Biology Triple Science Practicals Human Decay - compost / preserving food smoke machine Dissection - heart / lung / eye/ kidney Pulse rate / recovery urine testing bell jar - lung model lung capacity - peak flow blood pressure Blood model muscles and bones - model / chicken wing respiration - limewater / cobalt chloride / temperature food tests biochemistry Enzymes - pH / temp Immobilised enzymes diffusion / osmosis - visking tubing energy content in foods Genetics Root tip squash DNA model cloning - spider plants / cauliflower DNA extraction Behaviour reaction times reflex arc / knee jerk senses and nerve endings vision - area / colours plant hormones phototropism / geotropism Daphnia - caffeine Choice chambers taste testing - tongue Plants / Ecology Destarching leaves / photosynthesis transpiration / xylem - potometer Seed germination Ecological sampling nets/pitfall traps/pooters/quadrats/transects soil pH / nutrients rain fall / oxygen Microbiology aseptic technique - agar plates fermentation - yeast Antibiotics / antiseptics on bacteria Microscopy - cheek / onion / pollen / stomata 4 Technical Skills Health and Safety Cognitive access Investigative skills Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Table 3 - Major Chemistry Triple Science Practicals Organic Hydrocarbon combustion Cracking of hydrocarbons Esters and smells Properties of plastics Manufacture of soap Fermentation Thermosetting and thermosoftening plastics Oil extraction from a plant Distillation - crude oil / sea water Environmental Chemistry volcano model purify rock salt Strength of concrete phytomining - metals on plant growth Hardness of water and soap Extraction of copper from malachite Thermal decomposition Exothermic and endothermic reactions Emulsification Neutralisation making slime making nylon Chemical Analysis bromine test - unsaturated double bonds ion testing flame tests Energy in food / calorimeter Energy outputs - fuels Making up dilutions Hydrogen, chlorine, water and oxygen testing Titration - acid / alkali Hoffman voltammeter Classification - melting points / solubility / conductivity Reactions and Periodic Table Reactivity series - acid / water / air precipitate formation Displacement reactions - Thermite Electrolysis - sodium chloride / copper sulphate Rates Crystallisation / cooling rates Temperature / pressure on reactions Rusting / corrosion rate of reaction - temperature / concentration / surface area Chromatography Calculating yield / conservation of mass (MgO) catalysts 5 Technical Skills Health and Safety Cognitive access Investigative skills Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Table 4 - Major Physics Triple Science Practicals Technical Skills Electricity Series and parallel circuits Electricity meter - usage Fuse wires Model generator / steam engine Resistance through devices and wires Power consumption Logic gate circuits Oscilloscope - AC v DC and analogue v digital Thermisters and LDR's Transformer Capacitor waves - light and sound ray diagrams Prisms / diffraction gratings -spectrums Ripple tank /slinky and diffraction Lenses - focal length / shape / telescope Critical angles / TIR Oscilloscope - sound waves interference - sound / microwave Pin hole camera Polarisation Image processing - quality Transmitting messages - light forces and measurements Doppler effect - bell/buzzer on string Speed / acceleration / force / mass Speed of falling objects Centripetal forces / circular motion Magnetic field lines Power and work done Centre of mass - irregular shapes Hookes law Static charges - Van Der Graff Moments Momentum - air tracks Parallax - the eye Reaction time seismometer Energy Energy changes in different devices radioactive sources Conduction / convection / radiation models Conduction through different metals Convection currents Evaporation - cooling curves solar cells Efficiency - bouncing balls or toy cars Gases - temperature / pressure / volume Joule meters 6 Health and Safety Cognitive access Investigative skills Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience 3. Evaluation of practical courses for each discipline run for teachers, technicians and ITT students. The practicals detailed in the table 2, 3 and 4 contain a varying degree of complexity and therefore technical skills required to set up from none (bouncing the ball to work out efficiency) to a high degree (Immobilised enzymes). During the sessions run at GSA in January and February 2013 participants were invited to judge the degree of complexity in terms of practical competence (technical ability) and cognitive access (knowledge) using a graphical representation Fig 1. X – Bouncing ball X – Immobilised Enzymes Fig 1 – graphical representation of practical competence v cognitive access with two examples This further highlighted these different areas and allowed participants to understand the rationale behind completing practical work. Table 2, 3 and 4 were also circulated so participants could make notes or annotate the various boxes to indicate what to focus on during the practical for example in rates of reaction practicals the investigation skills (variables) would be ideal but in preparing a onion cell slide it would be the technical ability or practical competence. This led to four main reasons why to conduct practical work being identified: 1. Cognitive access – Subject knowledge being imparted 2. Practical competence – technical ability 3. Investigative skills - “How Science Works” 4. Excitement / enjoyment – the “wow” factor From the evaluations conducted participants gave the following follow-up comments: 1. They have an increased confidence in technical ability to set up the practical. 2. They have a firm understanding of knowledge and skills required. 3. They will use the lists to audit of the practicals in the courses delivered to ensure coverage. 4. They will be able to audit the equipment they have to ensure all practicals are catered for. Follow-up work currently being conducted is a database / website of all the key practicals which have been photographed and will be matched with the areas highlighted in table 2, 3 and 4. 7 Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience 4. Technical skills list for GCSE science from the list of key practicals. Currently there is no list of technical skills which can be used to train aspiring teachers and technicians and therefore are the technical skills of the past being lost as new technology is taking over traditional methods? From the list of key practicals a technical list has been developed (table 5). This table can be used to assess the competence of individuals and develop their confidence in technical ability. Some of these have been taken directly from the practical lists, however some are skills which would remain discrete such as measuring a meniscus and could easily be left untaught. These lists are currently work in progress and no action research has been completed to date. 8 Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Table 5 – List of technical skills for the delivery of GCSE Triple Science courses Generic Reading a Meniscus Light a Bunsen burner Use and construct a key (rocks, organisms) Test for gases – lighted spill, limewater, glowing spill and cobalt chloride paper Using a thermometer Using a datalogger for temperature, pH, motion/light gates, heart rate Using and resetting a stopwatch Making up different molar solutions in different quantities Biology Set up and use a microscope Set up a slide including the use of stains and living organisms Dissections – plant, heart, lungs, liver, kidney, chicken wing, eye Food tests – Benedicts, biruet, emulsion, starch (iodine) Setting up the smoke machine Testing for peak flow, blood pressure Making solutions of enzymes Visking tubing experiments and osmometers Pouring an agar plate (aseptic technique) Seeding an agar plate (aseptic technique) Storing an agar plate Cloning plants – asexual reproduction Set up a photometer Destarch a leaf and test it for starch Chemistry Evaporating solutions using a Bunsen burner and purification of substances Setting up chromatography Preparation of esters Manufacturing soap Distillation and fractional distillation Cracking of hydrocarbons Flame tests using a Bunsen burner and loops Pouring solutions and titrations Measuring the solubility of solids Reactivity series - reactions with air, water, acid Set up and use electrolysis experiment Displacement reactions Set up and calculate yields and conservation of mass experiments Set up and leave rusting / corrosion experiment Bromine test for unsaturated double bonds Making nylon practical Physics Using a force meter/ Newton meter Show a field around a bar magnet with iron filings and compasses Setting up series and parallel circuits using ammeters, voltmeters, thermisters, LDR’s, transformers and capacitors Resistance though wires and fuse testing Setting up and using logic gates Setting up a model generator / steam engine Setting up and using a Cathode Ray Oscilloscope Setting up a raybox to show reflection and refraction and measuring critical angles Setting up and using a ripple tank Setting up a pinhole camera Setting up a periscope and telescope using mirrors, prisms and lenses Setting up and using a Van Der Graff Demonstrating the Doppler effect with buzzer on string or in ball Setting up and using the air track Setting up and using a seismometer Using and storing the radioactive sources Setting up convention current demonstrations Setting up conduction demonstrations 9 Can do Jules Gordon, George Spencer Academy Bernie Youens, University of Nottingham Funded by Gatsby Charitable Foundation and MyScience Further questions: Does this picture track back to KS3, do schools taking certain examination boards do more practicals than others? If such variation exists where else / in what other way are some of the ‘missing’ practicals being done / tested? Which is considered the best preparation for A-level in that area given that such students are probably going on to AS/A2? What continuity is there from GCSE in one exam board to GCE by the same exam board? Do schools normally chose to keep exam boards consistent GCSE to GCE? How can the technical lists be used / developed further? 10