Are we Doing an Experiment Today?
When you think back to your own science lessons at school, the one thing that stands out will be the practical lessons (using a Van Der Graaf generator in physics to both raise her and produce an electric shock - ed). Whether it was the first time you were able to use a test tube or your inaugural dissection in biology, you can recall the excitement of this and, for that moment, understanding that finally, you were a real scientist. I know I certainly can, I still remember the moment that my chemistry teacher in Year 7 let us light the bunsen burners and boil water, it wasn’t the most exciting experiment I would conduct but it was the first that made me feel like I was a fully fledged scientist.
Now, in my time as a science teacher, I am asked every lesson; “Are we doing a practical today?” And the days when I answer; “yes we are”, I watch the same excited faces light up as they are going to be able to put their practical knowledge to the test. There’s the excited whispers as they prepare the table and bring the equipment out and the serious looks as they start to record their results. Regardless of whether this is a Year 7 practical, where we have been setting fire to a variety of materials, or our iGCSE students conducting work for their practical exams, the same excitement pervades through the lab.
In the English National Curriculum, science in the primary years is seen as an opportunity to test the universe around us. It is a chance to answer the questions children pose; ‘Why does it rain’, ‘How does a Volcano erupt?’, ‘How does electricity work?' and ‘How does that work?’. By letting children test why these things happen, we enable them to build their critical thinking, as well as their logic and evaluation skills. We give them the tools to see how they can improve their work or what they could do to test a hypothesis differently. More importantly, we give them the skills to start to question everything around them, to create a hypothesis and then test this through trial and error until they can figure out the solution to the question.
As we move through the years and into high school, science changes, it becomes three distinct subjects instead of one and, suddenly, the practicals take on a more serious note, with results to analyse and conclusions to draw. However, this does not mean that the science becomes dull, if I ask any of my science class from last year what their favourite practicals was I’m confident that they will mention the ‘chemistree’ growing experiment or making their own ‘bee-bops’ family and I’m sure a few of them will complain about boiling cabbage for an hour to create their own pH solutions.
Mrs Blount-Hogg, Upper School Maths and Science.
