Science for the Young School Leaver

Science for the Young School Leaver was one of a series of informal publications by the Schools Council. Schools Council Working Paper Number 1 started a series to make widely available information about curriculum development projects while still in their formative stages.

Working Paper No. 1 was produced for the Nuffield Foundation Science Teaching Project, and was concerned with the teaching of science to all students of average and below average ability. The team that wrote the report planned it as a starting point for the Nuffield Secondary Science Project which was to be financed and organised by the Foundation.

The report emphasised that development work in the field of science should not assume one kind of science for the academically gifted student, and a different kind for those students who were the concern of the Newsom Report. The report drew on the Newsom Report when stressing that school science should pass a ‘significance test’ by being related to the present and future lives of young people outside school.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Background
3 The Present Situation
4 Significance
5 Themes and Fields of Study
6 Feasibility Exercise
7 Main Themes charted
8 Theme 3: The Biology of Man
9 Theme 4: Harnessing Energy
10 Various Aids
11 Suggestions for Procedure
Appendix: Some sighting shots