AWE Club – Online Science KS3  Information

This is a rolling course, join at the start of any Half Term. 

Thursdays 10:00 to 10:55
Fridays 10:00 to 10:55
Age: 11+
TWO year course
(from Sept 2023, Thursdays will cover year ONE and Fridays will cover year TWO of the two year course)

Course Description

This KS3 course is designed to lead children into the EDEXCEL IGCSE Sciences. Mike teaches the concepts via termly topics which makes it interesting and engaging. There are lots of demonstrations and student involvement during the lessons. Children can attend both days as the lessons will be different on Thursday and Friday. Children can do the KS3 course to fill in any gaps in their KS3 knowledge while also attending the IGCSE classes. Lessons are interactive and children can speak to the teacher.

Recordings

Recordings are available to view after lessons that you paid to join. If you cannot see a lesson and you think you should, please do let Mike know. To view a recording, log on to Electa-Live, select ‘Resources’ and then view the list of recorded classes.

Message from Mike

If you have a scientific background or gained science qualifications at school or elsewhere, they will be of benefit but take care that you match your knowledge to the needs in the syllabus. Just like stories we read where parents know different ways to do maths calculations compared to what the primary schools teach their children, so some terms and topics have left the syllabus to be replaced by others. It was a surprise to me when I started my teaching career!

There is opportunity to communicate with Mike during lessons, mostly via texting in Electa or by switching on the microphone. To avoid excess noise, please indicate when you wish to speak. If anyone feels anxious about that it is possible to send private messages to me.

Homework

To begin – I have stated elsewhere that homework is not compulsory. This means that I shall always welcome every student to my classes whether they submit homework or not. But – doing it helps their learning and engagement in class.

Homework is something students find easy to do or find difficult to get settled into the task or somewhere in between. It may be daunting: putting it off feels easy; closing it from view, giving time to the other activities you want to do; the homework for subjects you find less hard. Let meshare with you some points I have put together after teaching these and other classes over the years.

People forget facts. When reading a story, watching a film or documentary we can get immersed into the narrative. Enjoying the visual or mental images, the ideas presented resonate. Talkingabout it to someone afterwards brings the memories back to our present and we may recall details not apparent before we started the conversation. Letting it recede into the past, finer details fade whilst some scenes remain vivid.

Our lessons are similar in that our memories of the facts, concepts and details will degrade with the passage of time. Understanding it in the class is one part: working through questions that examine understanding may highlight issues of which they were not aware. Questions may also prompt further thoughts and questions in their mind that weren’t there during class. This additional process improves their learning and understanding, which links to the next lesson untila topic is completed (at least for the level of study they are at). Also, we have but one hour each week, which is not always enough time so extra practice is recommended.

I have students who return their work for every task week after week. They get plenty of it correct but sometimes need correction on other points. I have students who do some of the work but notevery week. I have students with whom I only have interactions during lessons – no homework is submitted.

Of the the students who form this last group, the numbers decline through the academic year.They respond less as we go through the weeks, having less confidence to answer my questions in lessons, not fully understanding the topic if it draws on ideas from a previous topic. For a two-year course, as we do for the IGCSE, these students may make it to one year then do not continue.

I know the work can be challenging, difficult, taking time and may not always be easy. However, if it was easy they would be reading the text books by themselves and have no need to join the class. In all my time teaching home-ed children a vanishingly small number have been so clever that they needed little from being in class. Even they needed pointers to show them what was needed to pass their exams.

For the majority, study must be applied. To help that majority, I would like to understand whatgaps they have in their knowledge. If every student in a class answers a question incorrectly then I must reflect on what I need to do better. If every student finds answering a question of average difficulty quite easy, I should add questions to help them extend and improve themselves.Without the work returned, I have no data to work on so I can only help those who do share their work with me. So, if a student is not returning work please discuss with them to attempt thetasks, even if they do not complete every part. If you are a parent going through the work as your child studies, that’s great and I hope it helps them. However, there are tasks I really do appreciate getting back to me – the assessments.

Assessments are set at the end of a topic and they are an opportunity to see how well studentshave understood a topic. These are what will build a picture of the strengths a student has for the subjects. They are also important for me to consult when students apply to colleges for their further studies and the colleges ask for teacher input about that person’s suitability, aptitude, engagement in class. With no assessment results, there can be no adequate report from me.

Textbooks

Textbooks are not compulsory but you may find it beneficial to have available the Pearson’s popular 11-14 Exploring Science course books have a look at this example of one ISBN 9781292294117
Children may find them helpful between lessons.

Topic Plan