rED Brum 2022: Reflections from a ResearchED Newbie

A lifetime or so ago, back in 2018, Tom Bennett came to my school to give a talk to staff. I remember it because towards the end of the session, Tom talked about ResearchED and the conference events that were held on Saturdays across the country. I remember reacting with an almost visceral ‘urgh –

Shelley Parry’s CogSciSci ‘Bath 2020’ Quick Wins and Slow Gains

Shelley is here with her first ever blog!! Here is her take on the talks she heard yesterday. It’s great to help teachers find a platform to share their thoughts. We fund Shelly’s to be a great insight for those who were unable to travel. Enjoy! ‘Does anyone have a £2 coin? What is the

James Bullous’s thoughts on CogSciSci Bath ‘2020’

James has been kind enough to write up some takeaways for those that could not make it to beautifully rainy Bath yesterday. Click the link above to go to his twitter page and find links to his other blogs. Thanks James! CogSciSci Bath “2020” – Golden Nuggets and TakeawaysLike most CogSciSci enthusiasts and followers, I

HoDSciSci March Roundtable: Teacher Assessed Grades

March brings us to the elephant in the room of most HoDs minds: Teacher Assessed Grades. As it stands there is still woefully little specificity and guidance from The Powers That Be. We thought the best we could do is get a few HoDs to share their thoughts and plans for Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs).

HoDSciSci February Roundtable: Remote Assessment

We have interviewed a couple of HoDs regarding how they are using remote assessment. While the UK has only a week or so of remote teaching in front of us we are very aware that there are many HoDs working internationally, so this might be of help. As always a big thank you to the

Curriculum Broader Themes: Developing Department Discourse in Science – A Model For Better CPD

Ruth Ashbee presents a model for departmental CPD that moves beyond “the session”. 00:00 Welcome and outline 00:30 Context 03:21 Three principles of CPD 06:06 Curriculum or pedagogy 07:28 Beyond “the session” 11:24 Theme 1: How we teach X 13:46 Theme 2: Getting to grips with X 15:06 Theme 3: 3-point discussion 16:17 Outcomes 19:45

Curriculum Soapbox: Electrolysis

Helen Skelton discusses the topic of electrolysis and demonstrates her approach to teaching it. 00:00 Welcome and introductions 01:20 Why electrolysis? 03:37 Firm foundations – prior knowledge 08:30 Sequencing 18:03 Ways of seeing – Johnstone’s triangle 23:05 Instruction and SLOP 25:40 Copper chloride electrolysis example 35:57 Practical work 43:28 Summary You might find the following

Curriculum Chats: Structure and Bonding

Niki Kaiser, Elizabeth Mountstevens, Michael Adenekan and Adam Robbins get together to discuss their approaches to the topic of structure and bonding. 00:00 Welcome and introductions 01:25 What do students find most difficult about structure and bonding? 08:55 What do you do to address student misconceptions about structure and bonding? 17:09 What misconceptions do teachers

Curriculum Links Part 2: Planning A Science Curriculum

In Part 1, we looked at some of the principles that could form the foundations of a good science curriculum. Here we look more closely at the implementation of these ideas within different teachers’ science curricula.  Planning  Ruth Ashbee gives a great overview of how to overhaul your curriculum with a framework of meetings that would

Curriculum Soapbox: Writing Good Biology SLOP

Pritesh Raichura discusses how he writes Shed Loads Of Practice (SLOP) for Biology. Pritesh has a blog with lots of examples that can be found here. 00:00 Welcome and overview 00:57 Don’t pupils need a variety of activities? 03:25 The best activities will help pupils to… 05:50 Purpose informs question writing 07:45 Guide pupils to