Science

In conjunction with the Australian Curriculum, the domains of Science, Humanities, English and Mathematics and the prior knowledge of 12 level six students, a Physical Science Unit had been developed with a primary focus on energy that comes ‘from a variety of sources that can be used to generate electricity’ and ‘electrical circuits provide a means of transferring and transforming’ that energy (ACARA 2014).

 

This science unit, ‘Physical Science Energy in Earth Systems’ had been taught over six lessons and planned in accordance with both the 5E Instructional Model and the Representational Approach. The learning intention of this unit was to expose and encourage students to investigate the types of natural energy used on Earth such as wind, sun and water, as well electrostatic, mechanical and gravitational energy, all in the pursuit of creating electricity and a sustainable future.  

 

Measuring the success of the Unit:

 

According to Skamp 2012, ‘science skills are of use only if the individual understands what they are for and how to use them’ (pp. 62). This statement really resonated with me because I wanted to create a sequence that enabled students to understand why they the need these science inquiry skills and how they can use them to help their learning. As a result, and to make sure the unit stayed on track I would assess the success of my teaching after each lesson based on the below three questions:

• Did the students meet the learning objective of the lesson?

• Was my teaching strategies working in this lesson?

• How are am I certain students understood their learning, do I have evidence?

 

When looking at question one, I made a point of having reflective discussions at the end of each lesson allowing students to talk about their findings, I then measured this against the learning intention and redirected learning in order to meet this. I started each lesson with a flashback to the previous lesson where I refreshed their minds on their past learning in order to bring it to the forefront, check again for that understanding and connect that past learning to the new learning intention of that week.

 

Similarly, when looking at our teaching strategies I could tell right away during the lesson if it was working and made sure I was flexible enough to change or employ a new strategy.  Question three involved looking at the actual production of work and competition of worksheets to check student understanding, whilst these sheets formed assessment it also informed future teaching because I was able to pin point a concept or misunderstanding to rectify in the following lesson. The success of our unit is measured in student performance, assessment and the mere engagement with the content matter.