Science Investigations:RadioActive Decay Practical Assessment

Aim

The aim of this assignment is to reinforce that you should not incorporate activities into the structure of your lessons simply because they are in the textbook. You need to give due consideration of their effectiveness.

The rationale for this assignment

Before conducting any practical activity with a class, it is important to ask the following questions:

1. Which syllabus outcomes will students achieve through this activity?
2. How will the activity be organized in terms of efficiency, safety, resource allocation, and group dynamics?
3. How can the activity be adapted to cater to a range of student interests, learning styles, cognitive abilities, and motor skills (e.g. extension/remediation)?

For this assignment, you will need to take a critical approach to consider whether the following activities have been well designed and aligned with modern theory regarding science education pedagogy.

You are then required to consider how as a teacher you could modify or supplement the activities to make them more suitable for the scenario below. All the activities have been taken from textbooks. The aim of this assignment is to encourage you to take a critical approach to published activities rather than implementing them as is just because they appear in a text.

Assignment Detail

You have a class of twenty-five students with a range of academic abilities (for the purposes of this exercise they may be from any Year 7-10). Your students are generally well-behaved, though several need to be specifically engaged in order to cooperate well in group work. You have also noticed that many in the class have problems with organization and time management when doing practical work.

Part A Critical Evaluation of Design and Pedagogy

Select two (2) investigations/ experiments from those provided for you over the next few pages. Using the Assignment Template, address the following for each investigation/experiment:

• Write the title of the activity
• Identify which Stage you be teaching (this may be different for each investigation);
• Identify two or three syllabus outcomes that may be achieved by using this activity in your lesson sequence.

Part B Enhancing and Supporting Student Learning

• Critically evaluate whether it has been well designed and is consistent with research-based theory on effective science education pedagogy as discussed in your texts and readings. Incorporate references to the literature to support your arguments (you must use the APA referencing style as per the School of Education referencing guide. References are not included in the word count).
• Modifications How would you modify this activity to improve organizational or pedagogical outcomes? If you believe the activity requires no modification, justify your position.
• Organization and logistics How will you communicate the instructions to students (e.g. board, OHP, PowerPoint slides, handouts)? How will you ensure they understand what is required? How will you group students to maximize their participation and achievement of outcomes? How would you ensure that students record the activity and result in an effective way?

Part C Self Assessment

Using the checklist provided on the Assignment Template, assess your submission according to the prescribed criteria. The purpose of the exercise is to give you the opportunity to reflect on and critically assess your own work.