Science 7-10 Teaching ideas
Welcome to the Science 7-10 Teaching ideas support page
Teaching | The following documents sourced, from Curriculum Support, consider some of the cornerstones of effective teaching. | |
Questioning | A short discussion about questioning techniques reprinted from Curriculum Support. |
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Oral presentations | An article from Curriculum Support for teaching in Science 7-12 on developing speaking and listening skills in science. |
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| Gathering information from secondary sources | This Curriculum Support article outlines some issues that should be addressed when students are contacting experts, such as scientists, for information via the Internet or by e-mail. | .png) (doc 26KB) |
| Determining students prior knowledge and skills | Some successful classroom strategies to assist teachers to determine the prior knowledge and skills of students. |
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| Reliability and Validity | A reprint of an article that appeared in Curriculum support in 2006. A reprint of an article that appeared in Curriculum support in 2001. |
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| Stage 4 Teaching ideas in sample units | Examples of teaching ideas in sample units for some Stage 4. | |
Stage 5 Teaching ideas in sample units |
Student research projects
The Science Stages 4-5 syllabus is very clear about the requirement for students to engage in research projects.
In the section on Skills, the Science years 7-10 syllabus (2003) states that: As well as undertaking practical experiences conducted in class time, students are to undertake research projects. (p. 22)
The Skills section goes on to identify five skill areas that practical experience and research projects will help to develop. They are:
- Planning investigations
- Conducting investigations
- Communicating information and understanding
- Developing scientific thinking and problem-solving techniques
- Working individually and in teams.
The obvious point to make is that conducting independent research is the best way for a student to demonstrate all the syllabus science skills at the highest possible performance levels. Equally, the more opportunities students have to use or practise these skills, either as discrete aspects of their work, or in the context of a research project, the more capable they become at research. If they have been given opportunities to contextualise that research in the ways intended by the syllabus, they will become more scientifically literate.
Each student is to undertake at least one substantial (in terms of time, this should be at least the equivalent of 4 weeks of class time) research project in each of Stages 4 and 5. At least one project must involve hands-on practical task and at least one Stage 5 project must be an individual task.
A great deal of flexibility is given as to what may be researched and how the research may be done. In relation to assessment (see p. 74), research projects may be used to assess the extent and degree of students’ achievement of the syllabus skills. Again, the more opportunities students have had to do research, the better they are likely to demonstrate one or more of the syllabus skills.
For teachers the issue is, how do I manage this? The documents Investigating scientifically in Stage 4 and Investigating scientifically in Stage 5 can assist with strategies to achieve this.
Finally, consider engaging your students in one or more of the externally supported science awards and competitions. Refer to Award, project or competitions by year and stage for a convenient list that allows you to easily locate some useful source websites.
How to succeed in the student research project
The 2001 edition of the booklet developed by the Science Teachers' Association of NSW with the support of the Science Unit, Curriculum Support Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training. The booklet is a guide for students and teachers for the student research project required by the Stages 4-5 Science Syllabus and also supports the Intel Young Scientists Awards. (pdf - 508 KB)
Investigating scientifically in Stage 4
This is a resource for teachers focusing on scientific investigations in the Stage 4 classroom. The intention of the resource is to assist teachers to lead students toward completing a Student Research Project (SRP) as described in the Science Years 7-10 Syllabus (2003). This Stage 4 resource complements a further resource, Investigating Scientifically in Stage 5(to be posted in Feb 2005), which leads students towards independence in conducting a SRP. The two resources contain suggested teaching activities as a sequence of lesson clusters, resource sheets for teachers and worksheets for students. The entire resource is downloadable in three parts.
Investigating Scientifically in Stage 4, Part 1
This part provides the suggested teaching activities as a sequence of lesson clusters..png)
(doc - 236 kb)
Investigating scientifically in Stage 4, Part 2
This part provides resource sheets for teachers. (doc - 436 kb)
Investigating scientifically in Stage 4, Part 3
This part provides worksheets for students. (doc - 229 kb)
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