Department of Education
- Education
- Research
- University of York Science Education Group
- Curriculum projects
- Twenty First Century Science
- Practical work in Twenty First Century Science
Practical work in Twenty First Century Science
Coursework and controlled assessments are now a thing of the past, but practical work is still an essential part of all science GCSEs. Students must be given opportunities to carry out a list of practical techniques defined by the DfE, and will face questions set in practical contexts in the examination papers.
The new Twenty First Century Science specifications and resources provide full coverage of the required practical techniques.
Each practical technique is explained with an illustrated, step-by-step procedure in the new Twenty First Century Science student books and in the resources pack.
The new student books and resources pack for Twenty First Century Science provide illustrated, step-by-step guides to the required practical techniques.
Each Twenty First Century Science specification defines eight Practical Activity Groups (PAGs), and enables schools to use their own practical activities to complete each PAG. If students complete at least one practical activity for each PAG they will have covered the required practical techniques.
In addition, example practical activities to help students get to grips with the required techniques are suggested throughout the specification content in places at which they can be embedded into teaching and learning, and are resourced with student and teacher sheets in the resources pack.
Understanding of how to plan and evaluate practical procedures, and how to analyse and evaluate data to develop explanations, is developed through the ‘Ideas about Science’ strand.