Standard+3.3.3

=Assist colleagues to apply high-level theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching and learning practices to organise subject content in logical and structured ways as appropriate to learning goals. =

As mentioned in 3.3.1 the year 6 teachers and I discussed the best way to approach this topic.

I advised on the common ideas held by children concerning the flow of electricity and how these ideas can be channeled to build a scientific understanding referring to the results of research as described in “Electric Current: Developing Learners’ Views” Cosgrove, M; Osborne, R; Forret, M; Waikato Education Centre 1989 which looked at the ways in which students form their ideas about electricity.

In the light of documents recently published concerning the [|National Science Curriculum Initial Advice Paper]’ we made a decision to work on practical explorations leading to concept development, rather than teaching theory.

We made a decision to encourage the students to explore without giving too much direction e.g. simply by saying “Make the bulb glow” the students were able to discover more about the workings of electrical circuits than a structured, fact based lesson.

One of my main aims in teaching in the primary school is to allow students to develop their scientific understandings based on observation, testing and drawing conclusions within a supportive and knowledgeable context. Thus the logical and structured way to carry out this program is to start with the observations, then test those observations and once enough evidence has been collected draw conclusions.

By organizing the subject content in a logical and structured way the learning goals can be achieved.