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Individual
v Group practical work in Science: The Newtonmeter |
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School: Hellesdon High
School, Norwich |
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Fellow: Alison Hamilton |
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Email: alisonh@ukonline.co.uk |
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Final Report |
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My aim was to develop and
trial a practically based physics topic for
the KS2/3 transition that will be interesting
and enjoyable for both pupils and non-specialist
science teachers.
I also wanted to see if the practice of individual
rather than the norm of group practical work
would improve the motivation and participation
in learning and understanding a basic physics
concept which traditionally has a reputation
for being boring/difficult to teach for non-physics
specialists. This meant the apparatus developed
needed to be inexpensive and easily made and/or
acquired, as an average of 30 sets per class
are needed. |
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From September 2002 we have
moved from city to county status and now have
only 3 main feeder primary schools. This means
that we can more easily assist them in their
science teaching. Physics topics were the
ones our primary colleagues said they lacked
confidence in most and from 2003 as part of
our raising achievement initiatives the Forces
topic has moved to Year 7. Developing inexpensive
material to enable all pupils to work practically,
to make an abstract concept like forces fun
and boost the confidence of non-specialist
science teachers seemed like a very useful
project. |
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As a member of the first
cohort of York University’s CPD course
(also supported by Gatsby) I was able to use
the building of a newtonmeter as my practical
project. The development of a measuring instrument
proved to be an activity that had unexpected
outcomes and challenged a major misconception
I had that our Year 7 colleagues have more
time than secondary teachers to spend on interesting
projects! As a consequence of this, making
a newtonmeter became a task suitable for one/two
periods rather than a project that would allow
pupils the time to collect and trial materials
themselves. It may be that this kind of activity
must now be relegated to the Science Club. |
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The final design has now
been trialled by all 9 classes in our Year
8, and by the 7 classes from our three feeder
schools. The introduction of a mystery prize
that had to be weighed was a most successful
incentive to complete the newtonmeter. With
no exceptions, all classes and teachers enjoyed
the activity. The work followed the first
two lessons of my revised teacher guide, the
original aimed at NQTs and non-physicists.
The revision also incorporates current ideas
on starter, main and plenary activities along
with ohts for ‘must, should and could’
for each lesson. |
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The first two lessons of
the Forces topic were used to look at pupils
working individually. My colleagues at Hellesdon
had a free choice between group and individual
work and the consensus was that the less able
the class the more useful it was to have enough
equipment for individual participation. In
all the classes that worked individually more
pupils were on task and as a consequence behaviour
improved and provided increased opportunity
to ask and answer questions. Disappointing
was the comment that top sets can work just
as well in pairs, some reflection on the fact
that working practically with classes of 30
is very demanding and the extra effort required
in organising individual work is worth it
in terms of class management! |
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Each of the three primary
schools approached the tasks differently.
Fireside’s three classes are all taught
by one teacher who arranged to use our labs
over 6 weeks. He felt all pupils would want
to use the equipment individually and he was
correct. When given a choice each class opted
to do so. At the end of the topic they were
tested using the Heath scheme graded tests
and the results pleased and encouraged both
the teacher and the pupils. |
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Kinsale’s two teachers
preferred not to borrow equipment to work
practically but wanted to give their pupils
the experience of making an instrument if
I could take the lessons. This I did in their
classrooms and both class teachers felt it
was a worthwhile activity both for themselves
and their pupils who had they thought gained
an increased awareness and understanding of
measuring forces. Prior to the lesson they
had only seen demonstrations. |
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Horsford Middle school has two classes who
will be working with individual equipment
over the next two weeks and both teachers
want to trial the lessons themselves despite
the drawbacks they have with their classrooms.
They both want their pupils to work individually. |
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The pre-task questionnaire
incorporated questions that I hoped would
enable me to explore what pupils already knew
about forces as well as look at their views
on how they like to work practically. Formulating
suitable questions, collating this data as
well as analysing the results have been the
most difficult part of the project. The final
results for all schools should be complete
for June 13th. |
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This project has formed
the basis of improving links with our feeder
schools and benefited all the teachers and
pupils involved in teaching science to Years
7 and 8. I hope it will also be of use to
other teachers, whatever their local situation,
in the transition from Key Stage 2 to 3. |
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