Getting more out of research

If you ask a teacher how they evolve their classroom practice, you're likely to receive an enormous range of answers. There's no shortage of sources for inspiration: School colleagues, Twitter, CPD courses, and INSET days, to name just a few. One source is likely to be conspicuous in its absence. Educational research, and in particular, …

Philosophy over Fear

How scenarios and using the nature and philosophy of science might help with challenging pupil questions... R D Hodges The problem Stepping into a science classroom can feel like stepping into a field filled with a beef herd – all the heads turn towards you as you speak, and you don’t know which step you …

Games in science lessons

Games are a valuable tool the can help embed models, linking the domain of the observed/real to the domain of the unseen/theoretical. They break up a lesson, encourage participation and allow children to let off steam. Most of all, they are fun! But, which games work and which ones are best left in the box?

5 columns of exam success

When I did my A levels we did not really look at the exam papers until the end. There was very little support for the students on ‘how to do’ exams. My teachers focused on what we should learn and then expected those who had learned the most, doing the best. I’m not sure I …

Power cut cook book – Technology free lessons

I once worked in a old crumbling school in Sussex, which was next door to a site where they were building a new school. Yes, it was noisy, but not as noisy as having building work going on in the classroom above.

Guide for Guest Bloggers

Thank you for your interest in writing for Better Science. I hope this guide is useful. You can tweet me and I'll set you up as an author. Then you can write your blog directly in wordpress. Or you can email over your word.doc. Plan your blog before you start writing Consider what you want …

More recipes from the power cut cook book: technology-free maths lessons

Back in November, I wrote about the maths lessons I ran when we had no power. I spoke about them at the MathsConf8 speed dating too, and found there was lots of interest in the idea.

What does it matter if students have less creative subjects in their timetable?

It was about this time last year that I had to take part in The Big Timetable Meeting. This was the meeting where I successfully argued that there was no way that I was going to be able to deliver all that new subject content to the new cohort if I stuck to the old timetable. I needed …

How I wish I’d taught the Maths in my science lessons

There is loads of maths in science. We know that science involves loads of formulae as well as manipulations and practical applications of the maths we teach in maths lessons. But I don’t really know what science teachers are doing with maths, or how they are doing it. For students to make good progress in …

Now that is a great question

In this blog, I want to share some of the great adaptations I’ve seen for maths questions. This was the theme for my session at a recent conference, where I tried to squeeze as many adaptations into the session as possible, like an over-enthusiastic smoothie maker! Up front I need to say, these are things …