Science
At UET Pathfinder, we use Developing Experts. It is a fully resourced curriculum for teaching science. Its goal is to improve student engagement by providing comprehensive, well-planned lessons and resources.
All content is mapped to the National Curriculum. The lessons include video content featuring experts in various fields. These videos help connect the classroom curriculum to real-world applications and future career paths. Lessons use a “storytelling approach” and incorporate regular quizzes to help students retain information, addressing the “forgetting curve”. Developing Experts collaborates with businesses, to provide students with valuable insights into different industries. Developing Experts aims to encourage a diverse range of students, including women, ethnic minorities, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Schemes of work ensure a consistent and well-structured approach to delivering lessons. The sequenced lessons build upon prior learning, aiding knowledge retention. Uses storytelling and real-world examples to make learning more interesting. The learning approach is designed to help students remember key vocabulary and concepts. It also introduces learners to potential future careers in science and technology.
Our aim as a department is to ensure all pupils studying science achieve a qualification in the subject, which allows them to take their next step in their education or training, or that students are prepared to transition into a new school where they can continue their studies.
Our GCSE students work towards a double award qualification, equivalent to two GCSE’s. As a department we have chosen the AQA exam board and their Trilogy specification (www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/combined-science-trilogy-8464). This is a linear course meaning that pupils sit all of their exams at the end of the course. The final exams consist of six papers, each one hour and fifteen minutes in duration, with two papers each in biology, chemistry and physics. These examinations test pupil’s general subject knowledge but also require knowledge of how scientists know what they know and directly assess practical and enquiry skills.
Practicals therefore form an important part of the curriculum, and we ensure that the 21 required practicals, set out by the Department for Education are embedded into our curriculum. Teaching the Trilogy specification also means that we can enter pupils for AQA’s Entry Level Science Award. This means that pupils who are not working at GCSE level by the end of year 11 have the opportunity to achieve a recognised qualification, which will allow them to progress on to a GCSE’s in the subject.