This National Strategies study guide offers tried and tested practical suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom when considering the teaching of How Science Works. A variety of tasks help teachers to focus on developing their own creativity and critical thinking, transferable skills which they can pass on...

In September 2002, eight new General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) courses in vocational subjects were introduced: applied art and design; applied business; engineering; health and social care; ICT; leisure and tourism; manufacturing; and applied science. This report covers the introduction of these...

This collection of resources supports the development of practice in behaviour for learning.

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit, students reflect on the reasoning they currently use when solving proportion problems, examine proportion problems and appreciate their
multiplicative structure and create their own variants of proportion problems. Proportional reasoning is notoriously difficult...

This booklet, developed for mathematics departments by the National Strategies, is based on materials developed by six working groups as part of QCA’s algebra and geometry project.

The project focused on the place of algebra and geometry in developing concepts and skills in reasoning. The booklet brings out...

Produced by Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), these activities look at career opportunities in plant biology, as well as useful classroom activities and practical investigations. The range of careers and activities covered include:

The materials in this resource are from the Secondary National Strategy ‘Progressing to Level 6 and beyond in science’ project. They were intended for science teachers who are focusing on developing writing in science – specifically explanations, arguments and descriptions.

These materials consist of general...

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit, students will learn to: use past examination papers creatively, explore, identify, and use pattern and symmetry in algebraic
contexts, investigate whether a particular case can be generalised further, understand the importance of counter-examples, develop the...

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit students learn to use past examination questions creatively by selecting and using appropriate techniques and strategies to solve
problems involving numerical, graphical and algebraic manipulation. Most students will have solved problems such as these...

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit, students use past examination papers creatively, analyse the demands made by examination questions, understand and use estimates or measures of probability from theoretical models, list all outcomes for two successive events in a systematic way and identify mutually...

In this resource from the DfE Standards Unit, students learn to use past examination papers creatively, recognise and visualise transformations of 2D shapes, transform triangles and other 2D shapes by translation, rotation and reflection and combinations of these. They develop their ability to generalise and...

This paper begins by examining varying meanings of ‘professionalism’ in public policy contexts within and beyond education. These meanings are elaborated by examining empirical studies of teacher professionalism in the context of science teaching. Overall, the argument is made that policies aimed at supporting...

James Briscoe studies the highly structured development of the central nervous systems in embryos. For James, personal drive and self-motivation are key to success in science. A better understanding of the development of the spinal cord will shed light on diseased and damaged nervous systems, and the hope is that...

When teachers are introduced to ideas from research, they seek to make sense of the findings they are presented with by reflecting on their own practice and how they anticipate the research findings may or may not fit with the ways they view teaching, learning and assessment. 

Author: Chris Harrison

The ‘development’ section of the Fixpert's resource focuses on creating and testing a prototype for an outcome that meets their fix partner’s needs. Students build critical skills through evaluation and they practice design decision making that balances design ideas against user needs. Activities include a focus on...