Discussion in Science Teaching
Lesson idea.
Teaching approach. This resource is aimed at developing student teachers’ skills in working with discussion(ta). It can be presented to them as a hand-out to accompany an activity or read as reference material. See it online at BEEP website. Although it uses a science context, the real focus of the resource is managing and organising discussion-based activities. It provides guidance on:
- Starting and structuring a discussion
- Organising group talk(ta)
- Role Play/drama(ta)
- Ground Rules for discussion and handling difficult discussions (edit)
| Resource details | |
| Title | Using Science to support Biodiversity |
| Topic | [[Topics/Discussion|Discussion]] |
| Teaching approach | [[Teaching Approaches/Group talk|Group talk]], [[Teaching Approaches/Drama|Drama]], [[Teaching Approaches/Discussion|Discussion]] |
| Learning Objectives | By the end of the session student teachers should be able to provide guidance on: |
| Subject | [[Resources/Biology|Biology]], [[Resources/Science|Science]], [[Resources/Cross-curricular|Cross-curricular]] |
| Age of students / grade | [[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]]
|
| Other (e.g. time frame) | The Biology E E P site: http://www.beep.ac.uk/content/592.0.html
|
Pedagogic Rationale
This online activity for A level Biology students comprises resources to support a virtual investigation based on a field trip to the Dartmoor National Park. It is intended to engage the students both in discussion about and investigation of the conflicting natural science issues such as biodiversity that have to be considered when managing a national park so that it is attractive to both wildlife and people. Background reading, photographs and interactive dioramas are used, together with word frames, scaffolds and open-ended questions, to stimulate students' ideas for a scientific investigation into the impact of national park visitors on its biodiversity.
The virtual investigation itself centres on ways of using transects to collect data on plant species in heavily visited areas of the park. Exemplar data is provided for students together with prompts suggesting ways of analysing it. A class teacher could therefore use the virtual investigation as homework to prepare students for the activities that will need to be planned for their own field trip or use it in class with small groups to replace a field trip. Once the analysis is completed students are reminded that the purpose of the investigation was to inform the National Park conservationists about any possible losses in biodiversity resulting from footpath erosion. A range of possible follow-up activities are suggested to stimulate further discussion and/or action. Finally, students are encouraged to identify ways in which they could conduct a similar investigation locally.
