Trust Projects

Bath Spa University - Improving Science Together (Innovative Project)

This project is a collaborative venture between South Gloucestershire and Bristol LEAs, Bath Spa University College and Airbus UK. There are twenty primary schools in two LEAs, and four secondary schools, two that each cluster of primaries feeds into.

Programme

There are two main dimensions to the project:

  • supporting subject leaders in primary schools in developing the teaching and learning of scientific enquiry within their schools, through a particular focus on formative assessment
  • improving continuity and progression between Key Stages Two and Three

We are asking the primary schools involved to identify the science subject leader and also another 'key teacher' to be involved in the project. One of these two teachers is teaching a year 6 class because of the KS2-3 liaison dimension to the project.

The project will involve 4 professional development days and at least four twilight meetings to introduce and develop ideas. A significant part of the project will involve a Bath Spa University College tutor in working alongside the subject leader and key teacher in the primary schools to develop teaching strategies and consider how the needs of each school can be best met. There is also provision for non-contact time for the two teachers to work alongside each other to improve their own teaching and to develop their skills in supporting colleagues.

Science teachers from the secondary schools will visit primary science lessons and one of the two primary teachers will visit science lessons in the secondary school in order to develop each other's understanding of the neighbouring key stage. There will also be a bridging project that is started by year 6 children in the second half of the summer term and continued into year 7. The theme of this project is intended to be 'flight', for which Airbus UK. have offered support, but there will be room for interpretation to fit the planning needs of each school.

This project is aiming to develop effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in science that can be more widely disseminated as well as provide support for the project schools, so there will be a need for data collection and evaluation. The subject leaders will play an important part in collecting evidence in the form of a portfolio. There is time built into the schedule to support this.

The teachers involved will have the opportunity to accredit work based on the project in the modular programme for professional development at Bath Spa University College.

Contact

Kendra McMahon, Lecturer in Education, BathSpa University College k.mcmahon@bathspa.ac.uk

Update

The IST project has been a collaborative enterprise between twenty primary schools and four secondary schools in Bristol, Bath Spa University College, South Gloucestershire LEA and Bristol LEA. The project ran between September 2000 and September 2002.

This project has had a considerable impact on the schools involved and has raised the profile of scientific enquiry within those schools. The participants have renewed their enthusiasm for teaching science and have established a strong, supportive local network that includes schools, LEAs and Higher Education. A key to the success of the project has been the collaborative ethos that was established.

Aims and achievements

The project aimed to develop approaches to the teaching of Scientific Enquiry with a particular focus on developing strategies for assessing scientific enquiry in meaningful and manageable ways.

Assessing Scientific Enquiry

Strategies for teaching and assessing of science, particularly of scientific enquiry, have been developed and strengthened across the schools. The £1,000 equipment grant to each primary school has enabled teachers to set up practical work so that more children have direct access to resources and can work more independently.

The project explored the need to focus teaching and assessment on particular aspects of scientific enquiry whilst maintaining a holistic approach to investigative work. This has particularly improved the children's attainment in scientific enquiry and there has been a significant increase in percentage of children attaining Level 5 in the Y6 SATs.

Models for the assessment of scientific enquiry have been developed and will be disseminated on this website.

Y6-Y7 Link Project

The project considered how assessment information on scientific enquiry could be passed from primary to secondary schools and as a result of this a bridging project linking Year 6 and Year 7 has been developed and implemented in the project schools.

The process of primary and secondary teachers working together to develop this project has given secondary teachers a greater understanding of the content and level of work at Key Stage Two and has helped primary teachers to understand the issues of transfer from the point of view of Y7 teachers.

BAE Systems Airbus UK is local to the project schools and their engineers were involved with the development of this in the early stages. The project was first trialled in July-September 2001 and modified as a result of that. The new version has been tried in project schools in July- September 2002 and is currently being revised in the light of feedback. Children and teachers have responded very positively. The project will be disseminated across other schools in Bristol and South Gloucestershire LEAs this year. The link project will be available on this website.

Other achievements:

As well as working within the overall project aims each school identified priorities for action according to their own needs and developed materials that were appropriate for their children. These included:

  • increasing use of elicitation strategies, such as floorbooks and concept maps
  • developing the school grounds as a resource for science
  • strengthening links between Science and ICT
  • strengthening links between science and literacy

Products that will be of use to other schools and available on the AZSTT website are:

  • models for the assessment of scientific enquiry- plans for focused assessment linked to the QCA Units of work
  • the Y6 - Y7 link Project
  • professional Development Unit on Floorbooks
  • electronic word banks providing vocabulary linked to units in the QCA Scheme of work

What happened during the two years of the project?

The project strove to achieve a balance between giving teachers time away from school to develop their own thinking and share ideas with others in the team, and time within school to try out strategies in their own teaching and support their colleagues.

The project included:

  • days and twilight sessions when the project team met as a whole group for input and discussion
  • tutor visits to schools to work with teachers in and out of classrooms and provide subject
  • non-contact time for teachers in schools
  • visits between schools, including primary and secondary.