Teaching secondary science

This free course, Teaching secondary science, will identify and explore some of the key issues around science pedagogy in secondary schools. Through coming to understand these issues and debates, you will reflect on your practice as a science teacher and develop a greater awareness of the wider context of science education and how this affects science in the secondary school curriculum

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 What do young people learn about science?
• 1 What do young people learn about science?
• 1.1 Views of science
• 1.2 Scientific knowledge
• 1.3 Science in the curriculum
• 1.4 The nature of science
• 2 What do students learn through practical work?
• 2 What do students learn through practical work?
• 2.1 What is practical work?
• 2.2 Students’ views of practical work
• 2.3 Practical work and science content knowledge
• 3 How can students learn about the nature of science?
• 3 How can students learn about the nature of science?
• 3.1 Practical work and the nature of science
• 3.2 Using critical incidents
• 3.3 Ideas and evidence
• 4 How can school science deal with controversial issues?
• 4 How can school science deal with controversial issues?
• 4.1 Controversial issues in science
• 4.2 Learning through controversial issues
• 4.3 Taking a stance
• 4.4 Teaching controversial issues
• Conclusion
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements