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How to link practicals in chemistry to the theory behind the lesson was one of the topics considered at a meeting of science teachers held last week.
Twenty teachers from eight schools went to St Crispin’s School in Wokingham on Thursday September 29 for Wellington College Teaching Alliance’s first TeachMeet Conference since before the pandemic.
Hosted by St Crispin’s assistant head teacher Kiran Sharma and head of science Dr Daniel Rose, the session got under way with a discussion from Dr Rose on what really links the practical to the lesson, taking into account the cognitive load on students.
Luke Wormstone from the same school talked about developing independence, and Sarah Stahl from The Forest School talked about how to get students engaged in short, snappy, fun practicals with little fuss.
From Wellington College, Ben Evans analysed some classic books for teaching the subject, from Fowles’s 1937 Lecture Experiments in Chemistry to The Alchemist’s Cookbook from 1979, Caroline Evans talked about finding empirical formulae and Stephen Simkin talked about combating perfectionism with appropriate challenge, looking at the importance of getting students to realise that making mistakes is part of a valuable learning experience.
Paul Jennings, Head of Educational Developments and Partnerships, said: “It feels so good to be able to attend in-person events such as these again.
“We’ve been spoilt today by the speakers; here’s to many more of these types of event throughout the course of the academic year.
“My sincere thanks to Kiran, Daniel and Lindsay for putting this event together and, to Ben, Caroline, Luke, Sarah and Stephen for sharing their brilliant thoughts and ideas.”
TeachMeets are part of the Wellington College Teaching Alliance’s inter-school support programme, which enables teachers to support each other and collaborate on best practices in their lessons.
The Teaching Alliance also provides a number of opportunities including a relevant and research-informed CPLD programme, a wide variety of subject specific support groups and conferences, and an Educational Specialist Leaders programme.
