Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences

The Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences team devised a science course covering biology, chemistry and physics in two subjects-worth of curriculum time. This was in line with the 1985 government policy statement Science 5 - 16 which set down the requirement for schools to provide courses of broad balanced science for all pupils in 20 per cent of curriculum time. A year later, in 1986 the introduction of GCSE brought with it an explicit expression of the growing wish that children of all ages and abilities should be taught about the processes and skills of science as well as about the knowledge content.

Co-ordination

Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences was the first Nuffield project to publish for GCSE. It was also the first time that Nuffield biologists, chemists and physicists had worked together closely. There were several strands to co-ordination:

• co-ordination of content and the sequence of topics - so that ideas introduced in one subject could be taken up and applied in the others
• co-ordination of concepts - notably the treatment of energy, the use of explanations in terms of atoms and molecules, and the coverage of environmental issues.
• co-ordination of strategy - leading to a common approach to teaching and learning.

Practical work

A key feature of Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences was the continuing Nuffield tradition of starting with practical work and then moving on to the theory. Students were helped to construct their world view by reflecting on their own experience. The science they learnt in one subject was related to what they learnt in another so that they could form a coherent whole.

Publications

The first publications appeared in 1988. As well as a detailed Teachers' Guide and three files of Worksheets with activities, there were three books for students. The students' books were much more like conventional textbooks than earlier Nuffield publications for students. The team decided that students had to have direct access to the 'storyline' of the course, and not be reliant on their teachers to explain what they needed to know and understand.

Revisions and new publications

A second edition, with textbooks in full colour, was published in 1992. This was to match new GCSE specifications that were in line with the 1992 version of the National Curriculum. The first edition had included earth science and astronomy topics primarily as contexts for teaching biology, chemistry and physics. The second edition included a separate text book and teacher guide called ‘Earth and Space’. In 1994 the project published supplementary resources to support teaching of full-subject biology, chemistry and physics GCSE courses.