Planning for progression in practical skills

The Good Practical Science project has been a significant area of activity for the ASE for several years, taking as its starting point the publication by the Gatsby Foundation of the report of the same name. The project has explored and shared a range of ideas about how the effectiveness of practical science can be increased and shared practices with teachers for them to use in classrooms. We want students to progress and move to more complex levels of understanding. This session will consider how this relates to practical activities and explore how we can plan for progression in skills and processes. The session will look at examples from practice and consider implications for the classroom. We aim to encourage participants to: a) To consider how the concept of student progression can be applied to practical activities b) To explore how progression in practical skills can be built into lesson plans c) To refine and develop teachers' practice in this area. Outcomes: a) To have a clearer understanding of what progression looks like in the context of practical work b) To understand how an understanding of progression can inform and support effective lesson planning and delivery To have developed action points for implementation in the classroom