Changing practices: The role of curriculum development

Robin MillarUniversity of York

S-TEAM mid-project Conference,Glasgow

14 October 2010

• Can science education curriculum redesign provide significant improvement on its own, or is additional change necessary, for example in assessment or pedagogy?

curriculum

assessmentpedagogy

Changing classroom practices

what we teach

how we teach how we check what students have learned

curriculum

assessmentpedagogy

Changing classroom practices

For significant improvement, we need to address all three.

Twenty First Century Science

What is Twenty First Century Science?

• A suite of 6 inter-related courses• Two-year courses (students aged 15-16)• Each taking 10% of total curriculum time• Each leading to a General Certificate of

Secondary Education (GCSE) qualification

• Designed to provide a range of options to suit students with different interests and aspirations

Starting point

“A central fact about science is that it is actually done by a very small fraction of the population. The total of all scientists and engineers with graduate level qualifications is only a few percent of the whole population of an industrialised country. Thus the primary goal of a general science education cannot be to train this minority who will actually do science.”

Ogborn, J. (2004). Science and Technology: What to teach? In M. Michelini (ed.) Quality Development in Teacher Education and Training (pp. 69-84). Udine: Forum.

Starting point

“A central fact about science is that it is actually done by a very small fraction of the population. The total of all scientists and engineers with graduate level qualifications is only a few percent of the whole population of an industrialised country. Thus the primary goal of a general science education cannot be to train this minority who will actually do science.”

Ogborn, J. (2004). Science and Technology: What to teach? In M. Michelini (ed.) Quality Development in Teacher Education and Training (pp. 69-84). Udine: Forum.So what is the primary goal of a

general science education?

Beyond 2000 report

• “The science curriculum from 5 to 16 should be seen primarily as a course to enhance general ‘scientific literacy’.”

• How can we achieve this, whilst also catering for the needs of future specialists?

• The school science curriculum has two purposes:

A design challenge

to develop the

scientific literacy

of all students

to provide the first stages

of a training in science

for some students

• These require distinctively different approaches• Can we resolve the tension between them, by

designing a curriculum structure that addresses both?

Science curriculum model for 15-16 year olds (pre-2003)

Double Award GCSE Science

20% of curriculum time

Counts as 2 GCSE subjects

Taken by >80% of students

- with <10% doing less (1 GCSE) and <10% doing more (3 GCSEs)

GCSE Science

10% curriculum time

Emphasis on scientific literacy

(the science everyone needs to know)

for all students

GCSE Additional Science

10% curriculum time

or

GCSE Additional Applied Science

10% curriculum time

for some students

Twenty First Century Science curriculum model

citizens

future scientists

citizens

future scientists

Twenty First Century Science

Core: for all students

Additional options: for some students

GCSE Science

Core course for all students

With an emphasis on developing students’ scientific literacy

How is it different from previous science courses at this level?

• More obvious links to the science you hear, or read about, out of school

• Some new content, for example:• risk• evaluating claims about correlations and risk factors• clinical trials

• More emphasis on Ideas about Science• in the context of evaluating scientific knowledge claims

• More opportunities to talk, discuss, analyse, and develop arguments• about science • and about its applications and implications

Ideas about Science

• All data are uncertain: how to assess uncertainty and deal with it

• How to evaluate claims about correlations and causes

• Scientific knowledge claims are of different kinds – ranging from established ‘facts’ to tentative explanations

• How the scientific community works: peer review

• How to express and compare levels of risk, and weigh up risks and benefits

• The issues which applications of science raise, and how individuals and society decide on these

Science Explanations

• The ‘big ideas’ of science:• The idea of a ‘chemical reaction’:

rearrangement of atoms; nothing created or destroyed

• The idea of ‘radiation’: energy travelling outwards from a source; may go through objects, or be reflected or absorbed ….

• The gene theory to explain inherited characteristics

• etc.

Course structure

ScienceExplanations

Modules(on topics of

interest)

Ideas about Science

etc.

What worked, what didn’t?

Internal evaluation of pilot trial

• Almost all pilot school teachers thought the core Science course was significantly different from previous science courses• Relates to students’ experiences and interests• Stimulates, and provides more opportunities for, discussion• More opportunities for students to contribute ideas and views

• Over 90% of pilot school teachers judged the course successful in improving their students’ scientific literacy

• 70% thought their students’ response in science classes was noticeably better than in previous years

For more detail, see:Millar, R. (2006). Twenty First Century Science: Insights from the development and implementation of a scientific literacy approach in school science. International Journal of Science Education, 28 (13), 1499-1522.

• Positive teacher and student response• Students report more interest in reading about

science• Support and training were essential to improve

teachers’ understanding of course aims and confidence with the new teaching styles involved

• Teachers needed time to assimilate the new approach• Summative tests (external examinations) developed

by the Awarding Body did not fully reflect the course developers’ aims and intentions

External evaluation of pilot trial

For full report, see: http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/data/files/c21-evaln-rpt-feb07-10101.pdf

What did we learn from the pilot trial?

• It is possible to make a ‘scientific literacy’ course • which teachers find workable, and many find attractive• which improves student engagement with science• which integrates science content and ideas about science

• Together with Additional Science, this can provide good access to more advanced study

• Teachers need time, and considerable support, to take on more discussion-based teaching approaches and methods, and make these work well

• It is difficult to develop and implement forms of assessment that encourage and support the teaching of science for scientific literacy

• Examiners’ imagination• External constraints

Beyond the pilot trial

Course Candidates

GCSE Science 118000

GCSE Additional Science 71000

GCSE Additional Applied Science 31000

GCSE Biology 12000

GCSE Chemistry 11000

GCSE Physics 11000

Completions in June 2008:

~130000 students in total taking Twenty First Century Science (23% of national cohort)

1125 centres (schools and colleges)

Impact on post-GCSE course choice• Survey in Autumn Term 2008

• when first cohort of Twenty First Century Science students began AS courses

• Questionnaires sent to all centres with Sixth Forms• with10+ candidates for (Science + Additional Science)

or at least two of Biology/Chemistry/Physics

• 40% response rate• Follow up telephone survey of a random sample of 15%

of non-respondents, to compare with those who returned questionnaires

Millar, R. (2010). Increasing participation in science beyond GCSE: The impact of Twenty First Century Science. School Science Review, 91 (337), 41-47.

Reported change in AS uptake compared to previous year (n=155)

Number of centres

Change in uptake AS Biology

AS Chemistry

AS Physics

AS Applied Science

increased quite a lot 51 36 32 11

increased a little 41 45 55 6

stayed about the same 49 58 55 7

decreased a little 11 12 5 4

decreased quite a lot 2 2 3 1

no response 1 2 5 126

Number of students starting AS sciences

Number of centres

2008 entry Entry in previous year(s)

% increase

Biology 79 3145 2417 30

Chemistry 78 1935 1560 24

Physics 77 1592 1155 38

For comparison:National data on AS-level completions in 2009 show increases (compared with 2008) of:

10% for Biology8% for Chemistry9.5% for Physics

• Can science education curriculum redesign provide significant improvement on its own, or is additional change necessary, for example in assessment or pedagogy?

Some reactions

• Curriculum redesign can trigger some positive changes• Matching curriculum content better to students’ needs and

interests• Leading to classes that are more rewarding for many teachers

• Successful implementation usually requires a change in pedagogy• Activities that involve new and unfamiliar teaching methods• A new approach may involve a reappraisal of values (views of

purpose and priorities of school science)

‘… the main reason for pupils’ dissatisfaction with lower secondary school science lies with the impoverished forms of pedagogy that are a feature of most science lessons.’ (Galton, M. (2009). Primary-secondary transfer in science. Perspectives on Education, 2. London: The Wellcome Trust.)

• Assessment is the most significant driver of real change • It defines the real learning goals• It facilitates communication between designers and users• If it is ‘high stakes’, it strongly influences classroom behaviours

The idea of ‘backward design’:Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2006). Understanding by design, 2nd edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Supplementary question

• How can the research base in science education best be mobilised to support science teachers in schools?

Some responses• Let’s be realistic about the ‘research base’• Research has been more successful in

identifying learning difficulties than in testing solutions• We know more about what learners think than about

how to change what they think• We know a lot about students’ attitudes to science,

but less about how to change these

How can the research base best be mobilised to support teachers?

• Research-informed teaching & learning sequences• key design criteria (Andersson & Bach); ‘critical

details’ (Viennot); design briefs (Leach & Scott)

• Research-informed resources and tools• EPSE project: diagnostic questions• ‘Getting Practical’ audit tool: focused reflection on

current practice