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Ideas and Evidence
At the start of the 21st century
secondary education in the UK yet again underwent changes.
These included the introduction of new curricula at all levels
in England, Wales and Scotland and the Northern Ireland
National Curriculum undergoing review. With more emphasis on
cross curricula topics such as health, safety and risk,
citizenship, education for sustainable development, key
skills, literacy, numeracy and ICT, chemistry teachers must
not only become more flexible and adaptable in their teaching
approaches, but keep up to date with current scientific
thinking. The major change to the science 11-16 curricula of
England and Wales was the introduction of 'ideas and evidence
in science', as part of Scientific Enquiry. This is similar to
the 'developing informed attitudes' in the Scottish 5-14
Environmental studies.
A series of resources has been developed
where the author has attempted to address the above challenges
facing teachers, by providing:
- A wide range of teaching and learning
activities, linking many of the cross-curricular themes to
chemistry. Using a range of learning styles is an important
teaching strategy because it ensures that no students are
disadvantaged by always using approaches that do not suit
them.
- Up-to-date background information for
teachers on subjects such as global warming and Green
Chemistry. In the world of climate change, air pollution and
sustainable development, resource material soon becomes
dated as new data and scientific ideas emerge. To overcome
this problem, the resources have been linked to relevant web
sites, making them only a click away from obtaining, for
example, the latest UK ozone data or design of fuel cell.
- Resources to enable ideas and
evidence in science to be taught within normal chemistry or
science lessons.
- Activities that will enhance
student's investigative skills.
These activities are intended to make
students think about how they carry out investigations
and to encourage them to realise that science is not a
black and white subject. The true nature of science is very
creative, full of uncertainties and data
interpretation can and does lead to controversy and
sometimes public outcry. Some of the experiments and
activities will be very familiar, but the context in which
they are embedded provide opportunities for meeting other
requirements of the UK curriculum.
There are five books in the series,
follow the link for more details on each book and to access
the students worksheets
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