Week 4: Principles of Instruction and Science

Self-Study Tasks

Use the science plans that you have been given to plan a follow up lesson for a group of 6 children. Use the Edge Hill Primary Principles of Planning to support you.

Read Rosenshine's "Principles of Instruction." Rosenshine believes that there are 10 key principles of instruction. List the 10 principles and make notes on each of them.

1. Daily Review - a brief review recapping previous knowledge, helping to strengthen the connection of material learnt from previous lessons to the current lesson

2. New Materials in Small Steps - to avoid overloading the working memory and confusing learners, new information should be presented in small steps, moving forward only when each step has been successfully mastered

3. Ask Questions - teachers should frequently spend time lecturing, demonstrating and asking their students questions. From this, they can assess how well the children are learning new knowledge and shows any gaps where reteaching material is required

4. Provide Models - creating models, showing worked examples and having teachers think out loud can help to clarify new information to learners, providing cognitive support necessary for their learning. This support shows the learners what skills and tasks they need to be mastering

5. Guide Student Practice - students need additional time to rephrase, elaborate and summarise new material to eventually store it in their long-term memory. Teachers should dedicate time to this in lesson in order to access this new information easier and quicker next time

6. Check Student Understanding - teachers need to take the responsibility of thoroughly checking if all of their students understand a concept, rather than assume there are no problems if the class is silent when asked 'Are there any questions?'

7. Obtain High Success Rate - around 80% is considered an optimal success rate, showing children are learning whilst being challenged. Better teaching is small steps, followed by practice

8. Scaffolds for Difficult Tasks - scaffolds are temporary support to assist pupil learning. These are gradually withdrawn as the child grows more competent. This can include modelling, teachers articulating their thoughts out loud, cue cards and checklists. This referred to as cognitive apprenticeship

9. Independent Practice - produces 'overlearning', which is a necessary process for new material to be recalled automatically. This ensures student's working memory is not overloaded. Based on what the students have learnt in the current lesson, independent practice allows for consolidation and clarification of any problems

10. Weekly and Monthly Review - the effort involved in recalling recently learned material embeds it into long-term memory. The more often this happens, the easier it is to connect the new material to prior knowledge. Teachers are able to see how much the students have learned and if there are any gaps in their knowledge which need to be revisited (Rosenshine, 2012).

How could a school enhance science learning, e.g. LOtC, Forest School, external visitors?

There are many ways a school can enhance science learning. Forest schools have become more popular recently and have proven successful in enhancing science learning. A forest school offers all learners regular opportunities by learning in through hands-on practical experience. They normally conduct their lessons in woodlands or a natural environment. These types of lessons are beneficial for subjects like science as it allows the children to witness different species, weather, nature etc. Schools can also enhance science learning by doing educational visits to places like science museums, zoos, farms as it engages the children and allows them to experience the science they have learnt and learn more. These types of visits are memorable for the children and promotes science for them. The teachers could also use resources that are close to them for learning outside the classroom like local ponds and woodlands. This is important for a child’s learning especially in science as it’s getting the children out the classroom and not just listening to the teacher and complete work but allowing them to observe what they have learnt and construct their own conclusions. Some schools that are more lucky financially could also invite a visitor who is an expert in science for a particular topic they are doing. This could involve them doing an experiment for the children or a talk for them. This has also been proved very successful for science learning as it’s a different experience for the children from what they are used to each day from their teacher and is a different style of learning with it coming from an expertise (Niman and Kerwin-Nye, 2017).

At your school, investigate: how the school enhances science learning, examples of children's work and examples of "working scientifically." Use the school website as a starting point.

At Nicol Mere they have shown that they have used learning outside the classroom as a method for enhancing science learning. On the school’s website in the science section there are two videos of the children taking part in scientific activities. In the first video it shows children using different materials to dress the teachers in to then go outside and squirt water at them to see how the material lasts against it. It shows how happy and involved the children are and the enjoyment they are having from being outside the classroom but still working scientifically. The second video is based in the classroom and shows children being given their own equipment and resources to create their own circuit which makes some form of motor move. These are two different styles of children learning science but both have shown engagement from the children and their scientific ideas in action (Nicol Mere, 2021).

References

• NICOL MERE SCHOOL, 2021. Home [online]. Available from: https://www.nicolmere.wigan.sch.uk/ [Accessed 8 February 2021].

• NIMAN, T. and KERWIN-NYE, A., 2017, Work on the Wild Side: Outdoor Learning and Schools [online]. Available from: http://www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Work.on_.the_.Wild_.Side_.2017.pdf [Accessed 8 February 2021].

• ROSENSHINE, B., 2012. Principles of Instruction: Research Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know. American Educator [online]. 2012, pp. 12-39. Available from: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Principles-of-Insruction-Rosenshine.pdf [Accessed 7 February 2021].