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.
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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:
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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