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 …

should we set pupils in year 7?

Most schools set their students in or around Year 7 but there is still a large number of teachers who choose not to, some of whom are quite vocal on their reasoning. See mixed attainment maths, for example. We discussed it in a recent #mathschat too, when we looked at plans for next year’s Year 7. …

A conversation about conversions

In summer, I had the pleasure of accompanying some students on a school trip to Europe.  Mr Mattock kindly stepped in to look after #mathschat while I was away. This is a blog that I’ve had on the back burner since then. While we were waiting at a public travel hub in France (a place …

Dialogic teaching

outline / content

Science capital

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Learning formula just takes a bucket.

I've written a lot about great teaching ideas or great assessment ideas that I've seen in action when visiting school and teachers. This term I have been visiting my training teachers in their placement schools and stumbled across a fantastic idea for teaching formulae. Allow me to introduce the formula bucket. Trainee teachers have both the benefit and …

Practical Science – outline of research

research outline Trainee research

Relating Research to Practice

Practical Science (*) science capital Dialogic Teaching

A good department leader… listens

I remember a while ago having a discussion with my sister, she is the engineer and for a while she had a job making sure the wings stayed on aeroplanes.  I know, you'd think that this post was already filled. I was reminded of a conversation we had about how engineers make decisions about complex …