From moving around the classroom to represent the movement of electrons, to planning and carrying out a fair test, there are lots of engaging activities to get your learners thinking and working like scientists. In our recent webinar on ‘Developing learners’ Thinking and Working Scientifically skills’, Dr Alan Cross uses specific examples from our Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Science series to demonstrate engaging teaching ideas to support your learners.
The Thinking and Working Scientifically strand of the Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary curriculum is made up of four sub-strands. Through the session, Alan shares activity ideas to support learners across models and representations, and scientific enquiry skills, to feed both their curiosity and creativity.
Primary Science webinar
Here are the accompanying slides to the webinar:
Answering your questions
We received a lot of questions from our participants throughout the session. It would be difficult to answer all of them in detail, but we have identified some common themes and provided advice on each.
Q: How can I assess learners’ progress at the end of a lesson?
A: It is important to ensure you have clear learning intentions and success criteria at the start of the lesson. Ask learners to review these at the end of the lesson. Did I achieve the learning intentions? The learner’s books include end-of-unit tests and the teacher’s resources provide additional guidance on assessment for learning.
Q: Do you have any top tips for doing practical experiments in the classroom?
A: Begin with straightforward tests and investigations where you and your learners plan and carry out the science together. Introduce the five types of investigation (see Stage 3 onwards) and slowly encourage learners to take on more responsibility. The most confident learners may become quite independent. You will find lots of help in the learner’s books with the ‘Think Like a Scientist’ feature and corresponding advice in the teacher’s resources.
Q: Can I ask for a few examples of differentiation for Thinking and Working Scientifically?
A: The best way to do this is to give confident learners more independence, by encouraging them to plan parts of the investigation themselves. Less confident learners might need more support. One way to assist independence is to introduce a planning framework like the one shared in the webinar (see 00:43:00).
Q: Do the resources cover all six strands of the curriculum?
A: Yes – the resources cover biology, chemistry, physics, earth and space, science in context and Thinking and Working Scientifically. Read more about the Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary science curriculum frameworks.
Q: Should the ‘working wall’ activity be carried out before or after the lesson?
A: You should develop the Thinking and Working Scientifically working wall over several lessons. Start with a blank poster and encourage learners to add their questions, and then add key vocabulary and other ideas. Learners can see it grow and develop over time as they continue to make suggestions for what to add to the wall.
Q: In the workbook, there are ‘focus, practice and challenge’ activities. Shall I encourage all learners to complete the ‘challenge’ activity?
A: You can decide who should be doing what. If the ‘challenge’ activity is too hard for less confident learners, start them with the ‘focus’ task and then move onto the ‘practice’ task. They might then build up the confidence to have a go at the ‘challenge’ task. It all depends on your individual learners.
Q: If I decide on different objectives with differentiated learning, how will I cover all the learning objectives?
A: If you plan to use this strategy, share the learning intentions for the whole class and then add to this by saying, ‘however, I expect Group 1 to do a little more of…’ or ‘Group 2 must try this without my help.’ This will enable you to provide additional support to some groups, while challenging others.
Q: What is a ‘science test writing frame’?
A: A science test writing frame is a framework providing prompts for learners to support their writing and planning. For example, ‘1) Our science question is… 2) My prediction is… 3) I will change this variable… 4) I will measure or observe this variable 5) I will keep these variables the same… 6) My results are… 7) My conclusion is…’ You can amend the language to suit each learner.
Learn more about our Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Science series.
