Breaking the Mould? Teaching Science for Public Understanding

Breaking the Mould? was commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation with the aim of evaluating the teaching and learning of the AS course in Science for Public Understanding, giving insight into other 'new' science courses.

The research for this report took place between September 2001 and July 2002 and the general findings helped to set the context for 21st Century Science GCSE curriculum development project.

Contents of this book:

Principal Recommendations

*Recommendations for the AS course
*Recommendations for other proposed courses of this nature

1. Background

2. Aims of the study

3. The intended curriculum

*Course structure and details
*The teachers, students and course organisation

4. The implemented curriculum: practice, promise and missed opportunities?

*Principal features
*Teacher strategies and learning activities
*Coursework

5. The attained curriculum

*Student engagement
*Student views of the learning demands of the course
*Examination performance
*Students' and teachers' perceptions of the attained curriculum

6. Other issues
*Training and support
*Marketing the course

7. Teachers' views of the strengths and weaknesses of the course

References

Appendix 1: Reseach methods and data collected

Appendix 2: Course structure

Appendix 3: Instruments used for data collection