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Key Stage 3 National Strategy

Module 4 Science for gifted pupils A note on terminology

The term used in these training materials is able pupils. Many teachers are currently more familiar with the broader term able than with gifted and talented, which is now the DfES term for pupils whose ability is beyond conventional expectation. However, the DfES and Excellence in Cities (EiC) use the term gifted and talented to describe a population that includes the most able 510% of pupils in a school, regardless of whether it is selective or non-selective. Gifted pupils in an EiC cohort have latent or evident high ability in academic subjects, while talented pupils have latent or evident high ability in a creative or expressive art or a sport. This guidance is intended to help all schools address the needs of able scientists who fall within the most able 510%.

Background to the module

This training module will support science departments considering their provision for able Key Stage 3 scientists. It presents a collaborative working session lasting approximately 110 minutes. This module is designed to follow the introductory Module 1 on this website, which considers whole-school issues related to the identification and teaching of able pupils generally. This unit references how the science strand of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy incorporates the needs of able pupils. It can be used independently and includes suggestions about how a department might follow up the ideas that it contains.

You need to download and print all the materials.

The module contains:

guidance for the head of department (or other presenter) on leading the session;

PowerPoint slides which can be projected from a computer;

handouts which should be copied for all participants.

In working through the module, it is likely that departmental teams will identify issues they wish to pursue further. At several points, signposts to further guidance are included to help support such work. Publications referenced in the text are listed in the appendix.

Preparation and pre-module task

Before the session, participants should be given a downloaded copy of the guidance given in the DfES/QCA website http://www.nc.uk.net/gt/general/02_wholeschool.htm and asked to read it. As a presenter, you should familiarise yourself with the session notes and resources. You should also have read Module 1 on this website.

Module 4 Science for gifted pupils - 1 - Crown Copyright 2003


Pre-module task

Using the guidance from the DfES/QCA website, participants should identify the departments current practice by underlining in pen and highlight other aspects not currently done in a different colour.

Audience Science departments in secondary and middle schools which have participated in general training (Introductory Module 1).

Objectives To help teachers identify pupils who are able in Key Stage 3 science.

To promote ways of using the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9 to help structure learning for able pupils.

To develop a teaching repertoire to support and challenge able pupils in science.

Resources For tutors

Flipchart

PowerPoint slides

A0 or A3 planning sheet from Scientific enquiry unit

Copy of Concept cartoons

Copy of handouts 2.5 and 4.6 from Effective lessons in science

Copy of pages 3739 from the tutors notes in the Scientific enquiry unit

Copy of handout 4.11 from Literacy in science

Examples of starter and plenary activities including those from the consultants website

Apparatus for ruler drop test or a computer program that tests reaction such as on the Science explorer 1 CD.

For participants

Handouts

QCA scheme of work for Key Stage 3 science

Sticky notes

Copy of the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9

Sets of red, green and yellow traffic light cards



Session outline 110 minutes Pre-course task

Read guidance on teaching able pupils in science (see the DfES/QCA website http://www.nc.uk.net/gt/general/02_wholeschool.htm). Highlight current practice and aspects not done.

Pre-unit task set one week before the course

20 minutes

4.1 Identifying pupils who are able in science

Recognising characteristics of able pupils at Key Stage 3 and applying these to the identification of your own pupils.

Talk, pair and group discussion, task A, task B, task C

20 minutes

4.2 Providing for able pupils

Planning from the Framework and providing challenge, extension, enrichment and acceleration, particularly related to the key ideas.

Reading, group discussion, task D

20 minutes

4.3 Including able pupils effectively in all parts of the lesson

How to include able pupils effectively in starters, group work and plenaries.

Talk, discussion, task E, task F

22 minutes

4.4 Developing independence

Strategies to enable able pupils to develop independence, particularly related to homework.

Discussion, task G, task H

18 minutes

4.5 Next steps

Departmental priorities for development

Group discussion, action points

10 minutes

4.1 Identifying pupils who are able in science

Slide 4.1 Objectives

To help teachers identify pupils who are able in Key Stage 3 science.

To promote ways of using the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9 to help structure learning for able pupils.

To develop a teaching repertoire to support and challenge able pupils in science.

Make these points:

In the science strand of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy, initial guidance on teaching scientifically able pupils is included in the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9 (see pages 5657 of section 7).



Further guidance is presented in this module.

Exceptionally able pupils who are the most able 1% or so of the national cohort need individual education plans to suit their particular needs. This group includes a very few outstandingly able pupils, such as the boy aged seven who could write the caesium/water reaction balanced symbol equation and another of a similar age who described fusion in terms of the mass and atomic numbers of hydrogen and helium.

This guidance is intended to help all schools address the needs of the able scientists contained within the overall most able 510% of pupils in each school cohort. It is important to note that this group could therefore be very different in ability in one school compared to another.

Task A 34 minutes

Give participants a few minutes to discuss the statements, then take quick feedback. (There is no need to flipchart the responses.)

Slide 4.2 Task A Able young scientists in our school

Discuss the following statements:

We all know who are the naturally able scientists in Year 7.

We need to make sure we encourage and stretch the most able they are the science teachers of the future.

Lots of our pupils get good GCSE grades, so we must be getting it right.

Pupils who are good at science are good at most subjects.

We know what our able pupils think of their science lessons.

We always spot underachieving able pupils.

Additional guidance

Make the following points:

All departments should have in place processes for identifying pupils with particular abilities and systems for sharing that information. All pupils are entitled to the best education that can be provided to meet their needs and this includes able pupils as much as any other group.

There are many reasons for supporting the most able pupils but we all share a responsibility for encouraging more pupils to consider studying science to higher levels.

High attainment and high ability are not synonymous. Some able scientists, e.g. Darwin or Einstein, did not achieve highly at school.

Aptitude in science is not always reflected by high ability generally (and vice versa).

Pupils attitudes to a subject and their lessons will have a significant impact on the extent to which they achieve highly.

Identifying able pupils in science Make the following point:



The QCA website has a list of characteristics that pupils who are able in science may demonstrate. Handout 4.3 (see below) provides you with a set of characteristics that are appropriate for Key Stage 3.

Task B 5 minutes

Discuss in pairs the list of characteristics and flipchart the responses of those considered the most indicative. Add any others suggested by participants.

Slide 4.4 Task B

Read handout 4.3 and consider the characteristics of able pupils in science.

Do you agree with them all? Can you suggest other characteristics?

Which do you consider are most indicative of able pupils?

Say that:

Able pupils have individual profiles and few will demonstrate all of these characteristics. Some able pupils will be easy to identify because they demonstrate high levels of attainment, others may not.

It is important to avoid stereotyping. Pupils may display talents in science that would surprise teachers of other subjects. Able pupils in science may or may not be able in other subjects. Just because pupils are able in science, they may not necessarily enjoy science more than other subjects. They may demonstrate high levels of curiosity and interest or they may appear critical and disinterested. Able pupils often demonstrate high levels of attainment but this is also not always the case. It is important to identify able pupils in science in your classes so that they can be challenged.

Pupils do not develop at a consistent pace.

Summarise these key messages:

To ensure that pupils display their abilities, we need to provide them with: frequent opportunities to show high levels of aptitude; systematic encouragement and praise for such displays; rewarding responses (not just more of the same).

Many of the characteristics that able pupils demonstrate relate to their ability to use and apply their science. This should be an important focus when we review our schemes of work.

Identification is not an end in itself. It is important but it should not distract us from making appropriate provision the priority. Able pupils will want to be challenged and may appear disinterested because they are not, and this can lead to disengagement or even disruption. Identification is therefore a very important first step.

Further guidance on effective practice in identifying gifted and talented pupils is included in Providing for gifted and talented pupils: an evaluation of Excellence in Cities and other grant-funded programmes (Ofsted, December 2001; available from www.ofsted.gov.uk); see particularly paragraphs 3040.



Task C 8 minutes

In the same pair groups, participants identify their able pupils then discuss those identified with another pair. The group(s) of four then feed back to the tutor with the names and principal reasons for their identification.

Slide 4.5 Task C Identifying able pupils

In the context of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy, able pupils are those who are in the top 510% of each school cohort.

For one of the classes you teach, consider each pupil in turn against the characteristics on the handout.

Asterisk those pupils who are likely to be able in science.

Are there any surprises? Discuss your lists with each other. Can you identify your able pupils for a year cohort?

Slide 4.6 Your able pupils

What could you do for the able pupils you have identified in your next lesson?

Are there able pupils who you have identified that may have been missed in other subjects, e.g. geography?

Ask participants what they should do with the identified able pupils.

Say that:

One headteacher developed a system whereby she asked each teacher to identify the able pupils in their classes. Each teacher was to mark these pupils in their mark book and then to make sure they did something to ensure challenge for each pupil. The message being that identification is the most important step. This meant that these teachers had an aide-mmoire to remind themselves of the need frequently and systematically to challenge their able pupils. 4.2 Providing for able pupils Ask participants to look at the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9, pages 1122 and briefly explain the key scientific ideas and scientific enquiry.

Say that:

The five key scientific ideas and scientific enquiry underpin the science curriculum at Key Stage 3. Developing greater understanding of these will enable you to challenge able pupils and provide an appropriate focus for work.



Able pupils can broadly be challenged in three ways, through extension (depth), enrichment (breadth) and acceleration (pace). There will inevitably be some overlap in these categories in the planning and outcome of the work.

Access to opportunities should vary according to the needs of individual pupils and to the science topic being studied. Different pupils will benefit from enrichment, extension and/or acceleration at different times.

The key to providing for able pupils is to ensure through planning that they have plenty of opportunities to:

- tackle challenging problems;

- reinforce and deepen their understanding of science topics;

- experience science as a rich and enjoyable subject to explore and enthuse about.

Slide 4.7 Provision for able pupils

Able pupils need opportunities for:

enrichment applying skills and understanding to a wider range of problems, including unfamiliar contexts, and bringing together different strands of the subject;

extension working in greater depth, with increasing complexity, subtlety or abstraction;

acceleration provided by extending the pitch of learning objectives to those expected of older pupils, or introducing objectives from later years.

Slide 4.8 Progression

In the key ideas, progression moves from level 4 generalisation level 5 apply/begin to use abstract ideas level 6 using abstract ideas and models in explanations level 7 linking ideas together level 8 synthesising of ideas and evidence (to predict/evaluate/quantify and argue cogently).

Tell participants that they should refer to the yearly teaching objectives in the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9, pages 2430.

Say that:

Accelerating pupils can mean moving pupils through these at a greater yearly pace. What would this mean for the organisation of your pupil groups?

In order to accelerate pupils, teachers should think of writing more specific lesson objectives. Words such as understand are better avoided in framing lesson objectives and expected pupil outcomes. Ask participants to look at handout 4.9 to show the examples of words to use when defining lesson objectives and expected pupil outcomes. There is an approximate hierarchy of demand based on Blooms taxonomy that enables teachers to target the needs of their pupils better and accelerate them through the levels.

When considering acceleration, you will need to be clear about progression. Levelness can inform progression and pitch. Ask participants to retrieve handout 4.10 and look at the general characteristics of steps in progression



and see how these relate to the words to frame lesson objectives and pupil outcomes in handout 4.9. More specific indicators using these words in the context of particles are given in the third column. The fourth column shows strategies to progress to the next step, so that the strategies at level 6 are used to move the pupil to level 7 and so on. This approach can be used for the other four key ideas. For exceptionally able pupils, the department should discuss if an individual education plan, that includes acceleration, is appropriate. The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth provides a rich resource for these and other able pupils. They can be contacted at http://www.warwick.ac.uk/gifted/.

Handout 4.11 provides some examples of enrichment. How many of these are already used in the department at Key Stage 3? We will return to enrichment later.

For extension, participants will need the Framework and QCA scheme of work. There are many extension activities suggested in the QCA scheme of work and participants should look at a unit and consider one of these. Refer, for example, to Unit 7K, Forces and their effects, under the points to note column. In the next task, participants will be doing an activity which mirrors the way an able pupil or group of able pupils can work with additional extension ideas not in the exemplar scheme of work.

Task D 10 minutes

Participants, in pairs, follow instructions on slide 4.12.

Slide 4.12 Task D Extension

Use handout 4.13 and briefly discuss with a colleague one of the questions posed in your own preferred discipline.

Feed back to the rest of your department with the ideas that you have to answer the question. You should consider using at least one key scientific idea from the Framework for teaching science: Years 7, 8 and 9.

Use whatever presentation technique you wish. Your colleagues will use traffic lights to show whether they fully, partially or do not understand your explanations.

Think of one similar question for a Year 9 unit.

Say that:

Participants should consider if their suggested question for the Year 9 unit is truly an extension and not an enrichment of the learning. It can be difficult to separate enrichment, extension and acceleration as they do overlap.

4.3 Including able pupils effectively in all parts of the lesson Task E 8 minutes

Show slide 4.14 and ask participants to refer to their pre-unit task, identifying what is currently done and what should be done in the department.



Slide 4.14 Reviewing your provision

Refer to your pre-unit task.

Brainstorm the current and additional provision to include able pupils in lessons.

Flipchart the results, highlighting what needs to be done.

From the DfES/QCA website, the inclusive teaching methods that are appropriate for able pupils include:

More challenging questions may be targeted at able pupils during whole-class questioning. These could be in the form of concept cartoons.

More challenging questions might be put during individual one-to-one questioning. These questions might be in the nature of a wrong statement, such as The pull of gravity is the same anywhere on the Earth. This gives the pupil an opportunity to argue.

Written questions should be carefully monitored so that they are graded according to difficulty and able pupils can skip any they can easily do.

Grouping with other able pupils, whether on different tables or in sets, offers opportunity to set more in-depth analytical or evaluative group tasks.

In mixed-ability groups, gifted pupils might be set in-depth research or higher-level analysis, which feeds back into the group effort. For example, while a less-able pupil might be researching straightforward information, the able pupil might need to process information to get the data needed.

Extension tasks can be set whereby further information is researched or evaluated. Note: it is important that able pupils do not perceive this as extra work, since these pupils do not like doing extra work any more than any other pupil. However, it is always useful to have a further stage in a task ready for the able pupils to work on.

Open-ended tasks, which enable any level of skill or knowledge to be valued. For example, writing questions for answers, designing a process or system, creative initiatives, evaluating, synthesising information and ideas, summarising research, designing a game or puzzle to be solved.

Scaffolding, such as writing frames, which enable the able science thinker to succeed despite weaknesses in other areas.

Encourage participation in award schemes, such as the Crest scheme (British Association of Science), which involves working with scientists, technologists and organisations outside of school.

Competitions such as Science Challenge and The Health Matters School Awards. Get details from the website of the Association for Science Education, local museums, libraries and interactive science centres.

Enquiries offer excellent opportunities for pupils to work at different skill levels in the same context because they have choice of how to investigate. This is where teachers must ensure that pupils are encouraged to plan enquiries appropriate to their level of ability.



Task F 10 minutes

The A0 (or A3) planning sheets used in the scientific enquiry module would be very useful as a framework for able pupils to think of more factors to investigate, display relationships and analyse critically their evidence, relating them to scientific ideas. Consider the following enquiry: What are the quickest reactions? In this example, pupils could use book, CD or Internet research, an interactive CD of reaction time or a ruler and a spreadsheet to process the data.

Instructions for using the planning sheet are given in the tutors notes on additional guidance for the Scientific enquiry module, pages 3739. Explain the use of the sheets to participants. Participants should consider how these should be modified to suit non-fair test enquiries. The planning section phrase We could change could be Factors that could effect, e.g. the speed of reaction, etc. The phrases We will change and We will keep these the same may also need to be modified; ask participants how.

For this reaction enquiry, participants should identify the factors that correlate with reaction time. Factors include sight, hearing, touch, gender, age, number of tries, length of arm, amount of time waiting, preferred or non-preferred hand and amount of caffeinated coffee or cola drunk. Participants may relate this enquiry to unit 7A in the QCA scheme of work and the simple structure of neurones.

The basic activity is for the tester to vertically drop a ruler, and the tested subject reacts by catching the ruler as quickly as possible between thumb and index finger. Before the ruler is released the tested subject positions their hand a few centimetres beneath the bottom end of the ruler and prepares to react to a stimulus. For example, this could be a visual stimulus such as watching the tester release the ruler. The length of fall relates inversely to the reaction time, or the speed equations can be used to calculate real time. However, you may prefer to use a program that tests reaction such as the CD Science Explorer 1 where there is a reaction-time experiment in the Humans as living things section (see appendix for where to get this). A cartoon tiger appears silently OR with a roar OR the roar occurs on its own. The subject then has to react by pushing the space bar and the time elapsed is displayed on screen.

By using a spreadsheet, able pupils will have the opportunity to see how factors interact and the planning sheets also help them to design their own test. They will realise that this experiment does not involve a fair test, rather it is a pattern or survey enquiry. The use of the A0 planning sheets allows pupils to plan the enquiry to the evaluation stage.

Additional guidance

The participants are carrying out a planning exercise, anticipating how a scientific enquiry can be modified for able pupils. There will not be time to carry out the ruler drop or to use a computer program such as the CD Science Explorer 1 in full, but the tutor should have a demonstration available. The reaction in this case is a learned reaction rather than a reflex.



Slide 4.15 Task F Scientific enquiry reaction time

Look at the A0 planning sheet for Scientific enquiry and refer to notes from pages 3739 from the Scientific enquiry unit.

Discuss in pairs how these sheets would need to be modified for enquiries that do not involve a fair test.

Identify factors that would correlate with reaction time.

Do the ruler drop test or use an IT programme.

Consider how a spreadsheet could be used to analyse the factors.

Feed back your findings to the tutor, identifying how able pupils will be challenged in this enquiry.

Say that:

Starters and plenaries are parts of lessons that are highly interactive.

It is important that you include pupils fully in these aspects of the lesson, so they are challenged. This does not always mean providing pupils with different tasks, rather it is providing situations in which pupils can be challenged.

Starters: The starter activities suggested by the science strand of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy are applicable to able pupils as well. These are summarised in handout 2.5 in the tutors notes from the Effective lessons in science unit. Able pupils could be given more demanding questions or more of them. Teachers should use questioning in interventions in the demand appropriate to challenge the pupil. Use the words suggested in handout 4.9.

Plenaries: Examples of plenary activities are given in handout 4.6 from the tutors notes in the Effective lessons in science unit. Able pupils can write their own cards or be given more demanding cards in the whole-class activity.

Additional guidance

The tutor should have a range of starters and plenaries for participants to view. There are many of these now on the consultants support website.

Say that:

Able pupils should be involved in different approaches to group activities:

Working as a team with different members doing different jobs. This is called jigsawing (see handout 4.11 from Literacy in science).

Changing the groups around.



Slide 4.16 Implementing the ideas to include able pupils effectively in the lesson

Decide, as a department, which of the ideas in this session you are going to implement.

Plan to come to the next departmental meeting with your ideas developed.

Summarise the session by taking one idea from each participant that is going to be implemented and developed for the next departmental meeting.

4.4 Developing independence: strategies to enable able pupils to develop independence, particularly related to homework Say that:

The able pupil is often quick to acquire knowledge and problem-solve but may be frustrated by the formal structured subject taught in school.

Able pupils make choices about the learning style that is most appropriate to the content and context of the topic presented to them. This is metacognition. In other words, they are aware of their own cognitive abilities.

As a consequence, able pupils should be given the scope to realise that they can master complex ideas by using their own knowledge, understanding and skills in research.

Opportunities should be given for the able pupil to develop, in depth, an answer to a question. Tasks given should require creativity and the careful consideration of concepts. The work should have high conceptual demand: require application and analysis, the use of models and the synthesis of ideas and evidence (some of which may conflict). The pupil should be encouraged to research from many sources and disciplines but the answer must be sharp, well argued and self-evaluated for flaws.

Slide 4.17 Task G Strategies for independent learning

Consider the suggestions on handout 4.18.

Do they involve high conceptual demand?

Which named pupils would you give them to?

How would the set tasks allow

creativity, application, analysis, synthesis of ideas?

a range of research sources to be used?

a variety of presentations by the able pupil?

Give participants 5 minutes to complete the task and then take feedback from the group.

Say that:



Able pupils enjoy unusual snippets of information. This can be used to inspire a well-argued scientific enquiry. Consider the popularity of books such as the Horrible Science series.

Slide 4.19 Task H Quiz for staff

Consider the six words, sentences or phrases below.

To what examples on the first page of handout 4.18 do they best relate?

What features of independent learning would you expect pupils to use:

1. The poor-whill?

2. The sun transfers more energy to polar than to equatorial regions?

3. Air as an insulator?

4. Catalytic convertors?

5. Toothwort?

6. Arthurs seat?

Give participants 4 minutes individually to see if they can suggest the connections between the words and phrases and the examples on handout 4.18. The important emphasis should be how the examples will develop pupils independence and the features named in slide 4.17. Take feedback from the individuals lasting 5 minutes.

Additional guidance

The poor-whill is a North American bird that hibernates in the Rocky Mountains. This is atypical since other birds would migrate in similar situations. Pupils could analyse and define hibernation. They could explain a pattern in which some animals hibernate but many, e.g. humans, do not.

Uranus revolves parallel to the plane of the elliptic. Although more energy is transferred to the polar region, the equator is still warmer than the poles (see the website http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html). Pupils could analyse and synthesise the motion of this and other planets. They could explain and evaluate their own ideas for the unusual motion of Uranus.

Air fills the gap in an electrical circuit and it is the insulating property that prevents a current flow. Pupils could use an electron model, or energy transfer model, to explain how air can be an insulator yet conducts if there is a sufficiently large voltage.

Rhodium is a metal used in catalytic convertors. Pupils could consider the nature of catalysts, explain where and how these metals are produced, and provide evidence for their toxicity and importance to industry.

Toothworts are flowering plants, yet their roots absorb food from the phloem of the plants that they parasitise. Pupils can link this idea to the emphasis in tests and the programme of study that roots do not absorb food and that plants are producers in food webs.



Arthurs seat is an extinct volcano in Edinburgh. There are volcanic rocks also in the Lake District and lavas around Exeter. Pupils could discuss if this means that there are volcanoes in Britain but also can explain the nature of the Earths crust and predict what will happen in the future. They may also wish to evaluate the geothermal energy possibilities of Cornwall and nearby active volcanoes, such as Surtsey.

Slide 4.20 Plenary Your own pupils

Individually feed back one idea that you will give to your able pupils to develop their independence in the current or next topic that you teach.

Participants should state one idea and should be clear what features of independence will be developed.

4.5 Next steps Show slide 4.22 and ask participants to look at handout 4.21 on the characteristics of effective teaching. Ask, how many apply to your department?

From todays course, ask participants to write down one action point that the department should do and one individual action point with their own pupils in the classes that they teach. Flipchart the departmental action points and prioritise them. These actions should be implemented this term or, if the course is late in the term, by the end of the next term.

Slide 4.22 Use handout 4.21

Look at the characteristics of effective teaching of the able pupil.

How many apply to your department?

Which ones should be introduced as a priority?

Write down one action point that the department should do.

Additionally write down one individual action point for your own pupils.

For the plenary, show slide 4.23 and ask participants to use their traffic light cards to answer whether the objectives have been met.

Slide 4.23 Plenary

Refer to the objectives at the start of this unit.

How many have been met?

Use the traffic light cards to show your level of agreement with the meeting of the objectives.

Additional guidance

Tell participants that if they wish their pupils to be challenged by test/task questions then they should visit the QCA website at http://www.qca.org.uk/ for optional extension tasks at Key Stage 3 and the World Class Arena website (http://www.worldclassarena.org/v5/default.htm) for problem-solving questions. Resources to support the able are available on the Xcalibre website at http://xcalibre.ac.uk/udev/index.html.



Handout 4.3 At Key Stage 3, able pupils may:

be inquisitive and want to seek explanations for the things and events they observe, often asking many questions, especially Why?;

be able to sustain an interest and are dissatisfied with over-generalised explanations and inadequate detail. They want a greater depth of understanding;

be willing and able to think abstractly at an earlier age than usual; they can quickly understand models and theories in new situations and use these to explain phenomena;

have a more extensive scientific vocabulary than their peers when explaining things and events; they may have an interest in the derivation (roots) of science terms;

recognise and use formal scientific conventions;

have the capacity to leap ahead or jump steps in an argument and detect flaws in reasoning of others;

be willing to hypothesise, manipulate variables fairly and make predictions;

suggest a variety of alternative strategies for testing predictions or gathering evidence;

want to quantify experimental results by counting, weighing or otherwise measuring. They may mathematically model;

rapidly perceive the direction of an investigation and anticipate outcomes;

identify patterns in data where the links are not obvious;

have quick and extensive understanding of concepts, such as reliability and validity, when drawing conclusions from evidence;

show good powers of concentration and have hobbies where they collect and compile data or scientific artefacts. They may have made their own data files, e.g. on organisms, trans-uranic elements or astronomical bodies. They can often link science concepts from knowledge and understanding they have self-learned outside of school to challenge the teacher, ideas and evidence;

be prepared to live with uncertainty;

be easily bored by over-repetition of basic ideas but enjoy challenges and problem solving;

be critical or appear disinterested and can display unacceptable behaviour, but can excel and persevere at their own choice of activity and produce high quality work;

make connections rapidly between facts and concepts they have learned;

demonstrate intense interest in one particular area of science (e.g. astrophysics) to the exclusion of other topics. This may appear as factual information in other subjects, such as their written stories in English;



have precocious emotional maturity or they may be dreamy or withdrawn.

Note that this checklist is a guide only and there will be pupils who fit only a few of these characteristics and some may appear to show none of them.



Handout 4.9 Ensuring progression in lesson objectives Examples of words to use in defining lesson objectives and expected pupil outcomes G

eneral increase in demand

Draw State Record Recognise Identify

Sort Describe Select Present Locate information from text

Decide Discuss Define Classify Explain what

Devise Calculate Interpret Construct Clarify

Plan Predict Conclude Solve Determine the key points from

Formulate Explain why Use the pattern to

Reorganise Explain the differences between

Link/make connections between

Use the idea of to

Use a model of to

Provide evidence for

Evaluate the evidence for

The table below summarises the attainment expected of the majority of pupils through Key Stage 3.

End of year Expected attainment of pupils who make progress faster than others

7 Level 6

8 Level 6/7

9 Level 7/8

1. On the large table above, highlight the words most likely to feature as part of the objectives for Year 7 lessons for able pupils.

2. Highlight the words most likely to feature as part of the objectives for Year 9 lessons for able pupils.

3. Summarise how the lesson objectives for able pupils should change across the three years of Key Stage 3.



Handout 4.10 Promoting progress in a key scientific idea particles

Pupils who make faster progress in expected attainment

End of

year

General characteristic of

steps in progression

Characteristics specific to particles

/ Sc3

Strategies to progress to next step

7

6 Recognising a wider range of

concepts and

processes and

using abstract

ideas, including

models and

theories, to explain

phenomena in a

wider range of

contexts,

identifying

variations and

patterns.

Describe physical and chemical changes using existing knowledge and understanding. Recognise the particulate nature of matter in relation to solids, liquids and gases. Be able to sort simple chemical reactions into similar groups. Be able to use word equations for chemical reactions.

Develop particle model further, draw before and after pictures for particles in chemical or in physical changes. Use 3D models to model these changes.

Evaluate the limits of the usefulness of the particle model through discussion.

Rote-learn the common symbols and formulae.

Use generic word equations as frames for specific reactions.

Practise predicting reaction outcomes, particularly displacement reactions.

Use models to predict likely products of a reaction.

Give examples and practise applying current learning in different contexts, including within Sc2 and Sc4 contexts where possible.

Use concept maps that combine ideas from different topics in Sc3 (or Sc2 and Sc4).

8

9

7 Linking knowledge from different areas

of the programme

of study to provide

explanations of

phenomena and

events, using

pattern and model

to make

predictions,

beginning to use

some quantitative

relationships,

particularly

proportionality in

their explanations.

Recognise that symbols are used to represent elements and formulae to show simple compounds. Use particle model to explain properties of materials, changes of state, chemical changes and elements, compounds and mixtures. Apply knowledge of chemical and physical changes to less familiar contexts. Use knowledge of patterns of reactivity to make predictions.

Practise identifying balanced and unbalanced equations.

Teach specific techniques for balancing equations; reinforce understanding of ratio.

Expect all reactions studied to be explained in terms of particle interactions and to be summarised by balanced equations.

Use the particle model routinely to help explain chemical changes.



8 An extensive knowledge of the

programme of

study and a

familiarity with

appropriate

models. These are

used routinely in

explaining,

interpreting and

predicting.

Quantitative

relationships are

used in interpreting

graphs and

completing multi-

step calculations.

Routinely use particle model to explain reactions and changes. Identify and classify oxidation, neutralisation, displacement reactions. Use chemical formulae and balanced equations to summarise reactions. Use patterns in behaviour to predict the outcome of unfamiliar reactions.



Handout 4.11 How do you/would you make use of these as enrichment activities? Broadcasts

Make a collection of interesting programmes on popular science either from radio or television.

Magazines (or newspapers)

Build a bank of current or recent articles from magazines, such as New Scientist, Scientific American, BBC Wildlife, or even popular magazines and newspapers.

Autobiographies or biographies of scientists

Collect snippets from books, such as The periodic table by Primo Levi, or Surely youre joking, Mr Feynman?

Written resources in other languages

Build up a bank of French, German or Spanish magazines or leaflets from foreign scientific companies. Work with a modern foreign language colleague to obtain a suitable article in contemporary science for use in a lesson or to be set for homework.

Exchange your pupils work with a partner school abroad. Make use of Science Across Europe and Science across the World now on the Internet.

IT

Build up a bank of ideas that makes use of the Internet (e.g. Science across the World, NASA, museum websites, Science Net, Scientific American online). One pupil researched the metal Francium and was able to provide information to the teacher and the class. Using an able pupil as a researcher in this way is an excellent use of the Internet.

Pupils design and make activities

Make a file of activities and ideas that pupils can carry out by themselves or at home.

Outside visits or speakers

Make use of visits to museums or bring in outside speakers on, for example, the sewage system. Employ an actor to portray a great scientist, such as Lavoisier, Newton or Galileo, to raise or maintain the profile of science in your school. Give able Key Stage 3 pupils the opportunity to go to the Linnaean Society 6th form lectures or the Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution.



Handout 4.13 Participants should consider questions 1, 3, 4, 6 or 7. These and the remaining suggestions, however, are also directly applicable for pupils working at Key Stage 3.

Use the Framework descriptions of the five key ideas on pages 1422, and especially the relevant pages on interdependence, particles, forces and energy in your responses.

1. Prove to your colleagues that fire is not a living thing. (relate to unit 7D)

2. Describe the classification of an unusual group of animals or plants, e.g. Caecillians, gladiators or Welwitschia. (relate to unit 7D)

3. A boat containing steel girders is floating in a water-filled lock on a canal. The water cannot escape from the lock. What happens to the water level in the lock if the boat owner throws the steel girder into the water of the lock? (relate to unit 7K) or what will happen to sea levels if the sea ice Ross shelf melts in Antarctica?

4. Is it true that we only ever see one face of the Moon from the Earth? Can you role-play or show by diagrams the answer to this question? (relate to unit 7L)

5. Take a hand specimen of a shelly limestone, a bone breccia or a fossiliferous conglomerate. Describe the formation and a suggested geological history of the rock. (relate to unit 8H)

6. Compile hypothetical rock strata with sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous components. Introduce some of the following: folding, faulting, intrusions and erosion. Ask your partner to suggest a geological history in the correct sequence. (relate to unit 8H)

7. Glass seems to have the features of a solid but some scientists classify it as a liquid. Write the instructions for a role-play drama of the particles in a piece of glass. Then perform the role-play to your colleagues. (relate to unit 7G)

8. What is plasma? Using an annotated diagram or a role-play, explain the concept of a plasma. (relate to units 7G or 8E)

9. Pupils should be encouraged to think on large scales, such as interdependence over long geological time periods, e.g. How effective are fossiliferous limestones as carbon dioxide sinks? Were atmospheric oxygen levels much higher in Earths history, leading to organisms such as dragonflies becoming gigantic? (relate to unit 9G)

Brainstorm with colleagues and think of similar questions for any other units of your choice in Year 9.



Handout 4.18 Questions to pose for homework and enrichment The use of homework presents a major opportunity for pupils to develop independent learning skills. Consider how the ideas below will give able pupils the chance to research and suggest their own views and present their findings.

The following statements have all been made in textbooks or other sources of information. Describe your views on whether they are correct.

The only bird that lays its eggs in another birds nest is the cuckoo.

Birds do not hibernate.

The largest animals are usually herbivores.

Plants do not take in food through their roots.

All food chains get their energy from the sun.

There are no volcanoes in Britain.

The flooding of the Black Sea and biblical flood are connected.

Eating white bread and cereals causes acne.

Heat energy is transferred from hot to cold bodies.

Tabulate your views for and against electricity produced by nuclear reactions. Alternatively, present an argument for increasing the number of nuclear plants to produce electricity.

Get your pupils to produce short presentations about the following artefacts for science class, assembly or in science clubs.

Set up the scientific artefacts on an interest table. Artefacts such as:

a picture of the element Rhodium;

a burnt fruit/seed case of a Protea or Banksia;

an orrery with Uranus arrowed;

a beetle elytra with iridescent colours;

a photograph of Armstrongs landing on the Moon;

a model of Archaeopteryx or pictures of the feathered dinosaurs of China;

a specimen of rocks, e.g. Obsidian or brachiopod limestone or Zebra stone;

an incomplete electrical circuit with the gap arrowed;

a model of Buckminsterfullerene;

photographs of scientists, e.g. Faraday, Lavoisier, Mendeleev, Darwin, Madam Curie, and Dorothy Hodgkin;

Articles on Lysenko, and considered together, Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo, provide opportunities to understand how scientists work in a political climate;

a supervised demonstration of blue from the Royal Society of Chemistry 1995 publication Classic chemistry demonstrations (care is needed here as



the solution contains ethanol, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide refer to the departments risk assessment).

Set up a competition where pupils have to design a cotton reel tractor that will travel:

a) the furthest

b) the fastest

over a measured metre. Award points for the best explanations of the way in which the machines work.

Pupils should bring in their own pond life from home (risk assess) and use the schools microscope to identify and record the aquatic life, keeping a notebook over two or three weeks. The school pond can be used as an outside laboratory to use mark recapture techniques to estimate the population of water snails.

A longer study by pupils of a specific tree is documented and pupils are given specific instructions about recording data, e.g. estimating the number of leaves or height of the tree. Mark recapture techniques are used to estimate the number of snails or other suitable animals, such as woodlice.

When setting homework on typical Key Stage 3 topics, think about challenging and extending able pupils, e.g. on classification suggest that they classify hominids both living and extinct, on magnetism get the pupils to identify magnetic materials that are not metals and explain what causes magnetism, on the solar system get the pupils to research the evidence for a planet beyond Pluto. For unit 8I in the QCA scheme of work, data on the electrical and thermal conductivity of metals could be given for able pupils to compare, analyse and make comment.

Concept cartoons are an excellent way of extending able pupils in typical lessons. For example, using the QCA scheme of work, give pupils 6.7 for unit 7B, 9.8 for 7G,11.12 for 9J and 15.12 for unit 9G.

Questions to set per half term as optional school questions for all Key Stage 3 pupils. It will give able pupils of all subjects an opportunity to argue a position. There could be a debate organised between opposing views. Pupils could decide on the type of presentation, e.g. by means of an essay, poster, models, drama or using PowerPoint.

1. Could we survive on Mars?

2. Is there life on other planets besides Earth?

3. How did life begin?

4. Will robots take over from humans?

5. Will earthquakes ever be predictable?

6. Can a runaway greenhouse effect happen on Earth?

7. What is the importance of bacteria?

8. Is renewable energy the only future for mankind?

9. Can light be bent?

10. Can we be sure that atoms exist?



11. Did the egg come before the chicken?

12. Is it a good thing that humans could become immortal?



Next steps 10 minutes Distribute copies of handout 4.21. This lists the features of effective teaching of gifted and talented pupils identified by Ofsted in their report Providing for gifted and talented pupils: an evaluation of Excellence in Cities and other grant-funded programmes.

Use this list to discuss how well established these features are within the department and identify which areas should be the focus for further development.

Conclude by agreeing a plan of action to take forward the departments work in securing high quality provision for pupils who are, or have the potential to become, able scientists.



Handout 4.21

Features of effective teaching What does good teaching of able pupils involve?

A high degree of subject knowledge.

Understanding of how to plan classwork and homework in order to increase the pace, breadth or depth of the coverage of the subject.

The capacity to envisage and organise unusual projects and approaches which catch pupils attention and make them want to explore the topic.

The use of tasks which help pupils to develop perseverance and independence in learning through their own research or investigation, while ensuring that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to tackle the work effectively on their own.

The use of demanding resources which help pupils to engage with difficult or complex ideas.

The use of ICT to extend and enhance pupils work and the opportunity to present the outcomes to others.

The ability to deploy high-level teaching skills in defining expectations, creating a positive classroom climate for enquiry, asking probing questions, managing time and resources, and assessing progress through the lesson.

The confidence to try out new ideas, to take risks and to be prepared to respond to leads which look most likely to develop higher levels of thinking by pupils.

From Providing for gifted and talented pupils: an evaluation of Excellence in Cities and other grant-funded programmes (Ofsted, December 2001)




Appendix Further reading Providing for gifted and talented pupils: an evaluation of Excellence in Cities and other grant-funded programmes (Ofsted, December 2001; available from www.ofsted.gov.uk)

DfES/QCA website Guidance on teaching gifted and talented pupils http://www.nc.uk.net/gt/general/02_wholeschool.htm

OBrien, P. (1998) NACE Teaching Scientifically Able Pupils in the Secondary School: Identification, Planning, Enrichment, Assessment

The Royal Society of Chemistry (1995) Classic chemistry demonstrations (see the RSC website; this has been previously supplied free to schools.)

Keogh, Brenda and Stuart Naylor (2000) Concept cartoons, Millgate Publishers, ISBN: 0952750627

Science explorer 1 CD from Anglia multimedia see website at http://www.anglia.co.uk/school/catalog/jsps/product.jsp/product+345

Websites

National Academy for Talented and Gifted Youth, http://www.warwick.ac.uk/gifted/

Xcalibre, http://xcalibre.ac.uk/udev/index.html (a DfES website incorporating resources to support able pupils)

QCA website for optional extension tasks at Key Stage 3, http://www.qca.org.uk/

World Class Arena, http://www.worldclassarena.org/v5/default.htm

Science Net, http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/

Association of Science Education, www.ase.org.uk

CREST, http://www.york.ac.uk/org/ciec/stempartners/text_only/crestt.htm

Science across the World, http://www.scienceacross.com/

Scientific American online, http://www.sciam.com/

Uranus information, http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html

Disclaimer

The Department for Education and Skills wishes to make it clear that the Department, and its agents, accept no responsibility for the actual content of any of the materials suggested as information sources within this document, whether these are in the form of printed publications or upon a website.

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html

Module 4Science for gifted pupilsA note on terminology

Background to the modulePreparation and pre-module taskAudienceObjectivesSession outline110 minutes

4.1 Identifying pupils who are able in scienceTask A34 minutesSlide 4.5 Task C Identifying able pupilsSlide 4.6 Your able pupilsTask E8 minutes

Say that:Plenaries: Examples of plenary activities are givAdditional guidance

Handout 4.3BroadcastsAutobiographies or biographies of scientistsIT

Handout 4.13

Handout 4.21Disclaimer

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