time_allocation

Time Allocation for teaching Salters GCSE Science

The Teacher and Technician Resource Packs for Salters (TTRP) contain outline schemes of work which suggest activities to deliver the course. The schemes include suggested time allocations. These indicate the number of 70-minute lessons which may be sufficient for covering each topic. In some cases, a range of times is indicated, since it is recognised that not all activities will be covered with every class.

On this basis, the year 10 units should be covered in between 83 and 112 lessons, plus time required for assessed investigations and/or end-of-unit tests. The year 11 units should be covered in between 76 and 100 lessons, plus assessed investigations and tests. In schools where science lessons are of different lengths, it will be necessary to modify the time allocations accordingly.

We calculate that a double-award course occupying 20% of curriculum time should provide 4 x 70 minute lessons (approx 280 minutes) per week. For a five-term GCSE course, this would allow about 220 lessons. Additional time may be available if the course is begun soon after the SAT tests in year 9.

The published resources for the course come in three main components for each year.

The Student Book:
The two Student Books cover the content required for the GCSE specification and so may be used as stand-alone texts. However, they are closely linked to the activities described in the TTRP and should be used interactively during lessons, as well as for revision or covering topics missed through absence.

TTRP:
The resource packs provide outline schemes of work, supported by teacher notes. These notes indicate possible ways of organising and managing activities, provide background information and include answers to questions on student sheets or in the Student Books. The packs also include master copies for making worksheets to support activities that provide a basic route through the course. Most sheets can be recovered for re-use with other classes.

CD-ROM:
The CD-ROM contains all of the text and images from the TTRP, so that these can be easily edited to suit different classes. In addition, it contains masters for additional student sheets which can be used as alternatives, extensions or enrichment for different groups.

Balancing time against activities:
The time allocations given in the outline schemes of work are based on the assumtion that a class will use all of the basic activities from the TTRP, and some of the extra ones from the CD. Teachers are advised to keep a check of progress against the recommended times. If extra time has been spent consolidating some topics, a little forward planning may indicate where time can be saved by covering only the minimum activities in other, later topics.

Beware the first time through the course!
Many of the activities have been structured to encourage study and communication skills through discussions, role-play, etc. These activities are always time demanding and can go very slowly first time through. On the first pass through the course, if any activity takes much longer than suggested, it is best to recover the time immediately, and keep close to a target of 4 units per term, rather than slipping a long way behind schedule. Time problems of this sort almost always disappear by the second time through!

Tell us about it!
Email Nancy or Peter to tell us how many minutes per week you get for science,and how they are divided into lessons - our last survey indicated an average of 270 minutes per week, but with many different lesson lengths

Use the forum to comment about the time needed for each unit, or to enquire about activities/sections which do not seem to fit the recommended timings. Also share any tips you have for faster progress with some sections.