Making and taking decisions in practical science

This session has been designed in response to concerns about the decrease in science practical activities in secondary schools over the last decade. It will be an interactive session designed to support and promote teacher thinking about the role and purpose of science practical activities in learning science. This session requires participants to audit, reflect and challenge their current approach to practical work in secondary science. While 'hands on' practical activities have played a key role in science teaching in the UK over many decades, the debate about how much, what kind and the purposes of practical activities needs further investigation in the busy science curriculum. By focusing on the reasons for doing science practical activities and discussing how and why we provide these experiences in particular ways in our classrooms will provide opportunity to consider whether our approaches are effective and whether we might do things differently. In this session, you will work in groups, auditing the practical activities teacher do in one topic of Biology, Chemistry and Physics at KS3, deciding on the learning that takes place, how the activity motivates and engages students, and the relevance it provides for understanding science knowledge and its application in everyday lives. You will also be challenged to take one practical activity and consider how you might enhance the practical experience by improving thinking and talk during practical activities or greater student agency or enabling more connection with science ideas. It will provide you with a useful approach to take back to your own classroom and department to consider and review the practical science curriculum you deliver and some  of the ways you might make these teaching activities more productive and motivating for students. It will also challenge your current thinking about practical science activities, their role in learning science and how they provide a more nuanced way of introducing our learners to the nature of science and its importance in our society and their future lives.