How Science Works

Planning for How Science Works needs to address both teaching and assessment. The teaching is based, of course, on the Programme of Study, mediated by the selected awarding body, and although there may be a different emphasis placed on this in different courses, it will be ultimately fairly similar. For example, the study of momentum is an opportunity to use data and other evidence to develop or support explanations, and the study of the lifecycle of stars gives an opportunity for students to ï¿½tell the storyï¿½ of our solar system, irrespective of which awarding body has accredited the course.

Further exemplification of how the How Science Works Programme of Study can be taught in the context of the GCSE Physics extension topics is found in the Physics topics section. A list of relevant resources, many of which support the How Science Works agenda, can be found in the Resources section.

Assessment, however, is materially different and the way in which students gain credit for understanding How Science Works varies significantly depending on the specification; this needs to be borne in mind whilst using this guide. There is a more detailed treatment of the assessment of How Science Works in each specification.

In the material provided for each of the topics in the Physics topics section there are extracts from the Programme of Study for How Science Works. These have been selected to highlight principal opportunities within that topic: this is not to say that others couldnï¿½t be addressed in that context.

Many departments will, of course, have made substantial progress in their understanding and delivery of How Science Works since the GCSE courses were first prepared. One of the resources that was used in autumn 2006 was a set of materials from the Secondary National Strategy to support and encourage teachers to think about progression.

These can be downloaded from
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/secondary/keystage3/all/respub/sci_sldev_26606