Module EDUS3351: SCIENCE FOR PRIMARY TEACHING 4: SCIENCE FOR SPECIALISTS

Department: Education [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

EDUS3351: SCIENCE FOR PRIMARY TEACHING 4: SCIENCE FOR SPECIALISTS

Prerequisites

• Science for Primary Teaching 2 (EDUS2511).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To deepen and extend the students' knowledge and understanding of science.
• To explore research of relevance to primary science teaching and learning
• To develop an understanding of the role of the Curriculum Leader for science in the primary school.

Content

• Science Knowledge: Revisit science concepts (e.g. forces, energy) that underpin higher level teaching of science in the primary school.
• Science Education: introduction to recent and relevant research.
• Science Education and Application: national requirements for the Curriculum Leadership qualification: role, subject knowledge and assessment issue, audits, INSET and OFSTED, working with colleagues.

Learning Outcomes

• knowledge and understanding of the distinctive nature of the sciences of physics, chemistry and biology and the nature of scientific evidence;
• an understanding of the rationale for key scientific ideas underpinning the teaching and learning of science in the primary school.

• reflect critically upon the nature of the government requirements in schools and progression through the curriculum from National Curriculum pre-Key Stage 1 (Foundation Stage) to post Key Stage 2 (working towards Key Stage 3);
• use developing knowledge and understanding of how aspects of educational theory relate to learning of science by primary age children in the context of effective planning for teaching and learning in the classroom across the full primary age range;
• relate educational practice to theory in relation to the above ideas;
• application of subject and pedagogical knowledge in the planning for teaching science in the primary classroom.

• communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively in written form;
• manage time and work to deadlines;
• construct and sustain a reasoned argument;
• evaluate and make use of information from a variety of primary and secondary sources.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The course will be delivered through weekly block lectures, taught workshops and fieldwork in primary schools.
• There will also be occasional seminar sessions where students will present their critical reflections on appropriate readings and research.
• An exam will assess learning outcomes related to subject knowledge.
• The portfolio will assess outcomes relating to subject specific and key skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two pieces of formative assessment (about 500 words each)

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University