Creating a Progress Culture

This resource is a National Strategies teacher study unit for science subject leaders, science teachers and higher level teaching assistants on building challenge into lessons. There is a specific focus on questioning, learning outcomes and identifying opportunities to make classwork and homework more challenging.

Components
*Transforming questioning
Effective questioning for challenge; engaging students with questioning; sequencing questions

*Learning outcomes
Learning objective or learning outcome (differences between them); linking the plenary and the learning outcomes; helping students reflect on their learning using thinking words and thinking phrases

*Opportunities for challenge
What do we mean by challenge?; building challenge into lessons (including ‘big questions’); homework (broadening and extending homeworks to make them more meaningful)

*Setting professional targets

*Useful websites

*Resources to support group talks and discussion – a reference to some other materials

*Appendix A1 - Bloom’s taxonomy and levelness – to relate vocabulary of thinking to National Curriculum levels

*Appendix A2 - Bloom’s taxonomy and gradeness – to relate vocabulary of thinking to GCSE grades

*Appendix A3 - Examples of plenary activities: Ideas for starters in lessons