Are you looking for teaching ideas to support and stretch your students for Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences? Then take a look at our blog post from experienced teacher and author David Martindill.
In his blog post David looks at how to support and stretch students in the Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences classroom. David is an author from our new Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences series.
You can listen to David discussing these ideas with fellow author and teacher Dr Steve Owen in our Brighter Thinking Podcast episode on stretch and support in upper secondary science. You can also watch David’s webinar on ‘Tips to support teaching Cambridge IGCSE Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences’ and download his presentation.
David Martindill
A challenge for teachers is how to best support and stretch all learners in the classroom. Being able to achieve this boosts curiosity and inclusivity, empowering all to demonstrate their full potential. This broad theme will be explored in this article, with a specific focus on the Cambridge IGCSE Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences course.
Celebrate but also consider what more you can do
In our lesson planning, it is important to take differentiation into account to help frame learning activities. These are firstly by content, in which we offer more than one version of paper or digital material on the same topic. Secondly, by process – giving some learners more ‘scaffolding’ or guidance than others, to help them get started. And thirdly, by outcome, where learners are given the same task, but one which offers the possibility of stretch to the most able but supports the least confident. For example, when learners first encounter a practical scenario, such as the effect of changing an environmental factor on transpiration rate, or perhaps an investigation into the effect of factors on the resistance of a wire, a planning support sheet could be provided. This has fillable gaps to help learners identify the independent, dependent and standardised variables. It also has sentence starters and endings to help structure their thoughts. This would be an example of differentiation by process. To provide extra challenge, embed opportunities for self-management, called autonomy. For example, provide a range of equipment for learners to choose from when they plan a laboratory activity. In so doing, an opportunity is offered to differentiate by outcome.
Learning styles
Learners are all unique. It’s difficult to accurately define learning styles, let alone categorise learners into them. In this regard it is perhaps most effective to consider what you do already. Celebrate this but consider ways to further extend your practice. Perhaps ask a colleague to watch learners and how they engage in one of your lessons. Ask them to monitor your interactions with more and less confident learners, or perhaps those who are sitting close to you or further away. For example, you might be surprised at how often you choose learners who put their hands up the fastest when you ask a question. Consider when they are most interested about learning and ask yourself why. Perhaps their curiosity is very closely linked to the occasions when you offer praise, or when they are encouraged to ‘take risks’ by trying something new.
Encourage but also extend deeper thinking
Undoubtedly, remote learning placed significant obstacles in the way of effective teaching and learning. But educators worldwide rose to the challenge, as did those in their charge. Some positive outcomes have already emerged. For example, more learners now seem to know that learning doesn’t have to be lonely. They have come to better understand that when they talk about their learning, progress is usually faster. Creating dialogue in general is a very important education tool. During lockdown periods, many teachers found that their learners benefited from collaboration online, such as working as a team to answer questions, or designing slideshows. It also became more relevant than ever that learners should be primed with an indication of what they will cover in subsequent lessons. ‘Flipping the classroom’, by giving notice to learners of key terms and concepts they will encounter in class, empowers them. They were more likely to arrive at the online lesson with a good understanding of the purpose of their time together, and with some ideas already mastered. It also allowed us, as teachers, to spend more time on the concepts that need deeper exploration.
Challenge
How can learners challenge themselves in their studies? To consider this, it is important to recognise that skill development, rather than knowledge gain, can be the most valuable learning goal. Being creative during and between lessons is one sure way to accelerate such skills. Instead of simply reading through the textbook or browsing through online tutorials, encourage learners to be as active as possible. Ask them to tally count every mention of a key term or idea, or predict how sentences will end. Perhaps they could convert information contained in text into a diagram or transfer a picture into a list, or write questions for which phrases and words they encounter could be the answers. Encourage them to sketch Venn diagrams to compare different factors and help them apply their knowledge by constructing a graphic organiser to model their thought processes. Promote self-reflection, called metacognition, to regularly review new knowledge and skills. In Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences this is particularly important because it relies on spiral learning – revisiting, and then extending, existing knowledge. Being creative in this way forces learners to think deeper, rather than passively receive information. It also keeps them motivated for longer because it gives them greater ownership of the learning process.
Sustain but also spark further interest
Sustaining motivation and an appetite for understanding is one thing. But what can we do to help learners who want to go on to pursue careers in the field of science? A valuable approach is to push the boundaries of day-to-day learning. Perhaps learners could do some safe practical work at home. For example, it’s possible to make biodegradable plastic and even small motors using everyday substances and items, using online sources for inspiration. For biological studies, encourage learners to go outside: living things can be used for surveys and ethical experimentation. As with all hands-on science, encourage learners to focus their mind more on why they are doing something, rather than what they are doing.
Scientific literacy
Promote scientific literacy, too. This idea places an emphasis on how learners, as citizens, should interpret the findings of scientists. This especially includes science-related stories reported by the media, which can be inaccurate and biased. Help learners enquire, evaluate and debate a claim or argument. There are several real-world issues that can be selected from the Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences course for this purpose, such as ‘GM crops are the way forward for agriculture’ and ‘Space exploration is a waste of money’.
Higher-order thinking skills
Finally, help learners to develop their own higher-order thinking skills by making links between different topics in science. This is relatively straightforward with the Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences course. For example, the new version of the syllabus includes space science. It is possible to link this with chemistry – the origin of elements – and even astrobiology: what does life need to exist, and what would we need to live on the Moon or other planets? Science is a holistic subject, but we sometimes overlook this as we compartmentalise our teaching into different sciences, and then again into different topics in each of those subjects. Exploring these links is an effective motivator and offers some fabulous stretch opportunities.
Support and stretch during teaching and learning is, therefore, vital. However, it is important not to underestimate the fundamental and pastoral role that we play in our learners’ lives, too. To that end, to make good progress, they must feel safe, and their learning needs must be catered for. As a popular educational slogan says: “they must Maslow before they can Bloom!”
