Teach Secondary 13.5

The process of developing students’ scientific literacy involves hard graft – because at a certain level, every science lesson can be a language lesson too. To that end, Collins is set to publish in September 2024 a teacher-oriented resource centred on the development of scientific literacy, and it’s quite the package. Its GCSE Science Now Teacher Resource Pack is a book that focuses on quality sentence construction, how longer responses should be structured and how text can be organised so that students are better able to decipher new keywords, definitions and command words – and then use them accurately. It achieves this using a pedagogical framework Collins calls ‘Tiers of Vocabulary’, whereby various activities and assessment tasks can be integrated into a series of scientific topics in ways suitable for differing ability levels. The well-structured Teacher Notes provide plenty of useful pointers on how the resource should be used, complete with notes on questions, model answers and next steps. Users are also granted access to a wide range of ready-made, time-saving ‘Do Nows’, homework tasks, and lesson starters. GCSE Science Now gives teachers a plethora of ways to help students practise their active reading skills in relation to scientific texts, extending into areas one might traditionally consider more the preserve of English teachers, such as sentence construction, how to use paragraphs and how to present written responses more confidently. The unlocking of such skills will in turn enable students to further develop scientific knowledge and aptitude for the subject. Perhaps key to the resource’s success is the way in which it encourages deeper exploration of topical issues, real-life events and pressing challenges faced by different communities around the world. The lesson content contained within GCSE Science Now is informed by leading data scientists, with a visual style close to the clear, concise and easy-to-follow summaries of websites like ‘Our World in Data’ (ourworldindata.org ). Overall, this is an impressive teaching resource that sets itself the commendable aim of teaching students how to identify, read, write and ultimately utilise the conventions of scientific communication. There are effective strategies that teachers can incorporate into their practice, valuable insights into relevant research, and a host of classroom ideas and suggestions for further reading that can take your students’ grasp of scientific vernacular and vocabulary to the next level. GCSE Science Now provides the kind of support and assistance that extends far beyond ‘bolt-on interventions’. It will enable you and your colleagues to devise viable, long-term and sustainable strategies for helping students gain a deep and enduring understanding of how to think and write like a scientist. We examine a resource designed to develop literacy in science to boost outcomes for students A T A G L ANCE S C I ENC E • A teaching resource aimed at improving disciplinary literacy in science • Enable the whole department to take ownership and increase confidence in systematically teaching literacy through science • Contains over 200 activities to boost attainment with accompanying slides, diagnostic assessments, notes and worksheets • Includes customisablematerials developed by the award-winning ‘Science Now’ team Package priced at £200; for more information, visit collins.co.uk/GCSEScienceNow ✓ Improves literacy skills – both science-specific and otherwise ✓ Promotes metacognitive talk and dialogue in the classroom ✓ Helps your students to become better science communicators ✓ Can be used to upskill teaching staff via the inclusion of evidence-informed, ready-to-teach resources ✓ Helps science departments devise a more focused, less scattergun approach to developing scientific literacy ...you’re looking for practical strategies, suggestions and activities for developing students’ literacy in science, while boosting GCSE outcomes and ensuring your teaching staff are informed and confident. V E RD I C T P I CK UP I F . . . REVIEWED BY: JOHN DABELL AQA GCSE Science Now Teacher Resource Pack “Empower students to conquer the blank page,boost skills, andbuild confidenceand engagement in science” R E V I E W 97 teachwire.net/secondary