CH3PSE-BSc Science Education Project

Module Provider: Chemistry, School of Chem, FoodBi and Pharm
Number of credits: 40 [20ECTS credits]
Terms in which taught: Autumn, Spring and Summer
Module Convenor: Dr EM Page
Pre-requisites: Part 2 BSc Nat Sci co req
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Module version for: 2008/9

Email: e.m.page@reading.ac.uk

Aims:
To give students the experience of science education through a mentoring scheme carried out with science teachers in local schools. To help students gain confidence in communicating their subject and to develop strong organisational skills. To enable students to understand how to address the learning needs of pupils and devise and develop suitable teaching aids to engage pupils at the relevant level. To inspire a new generation of prospective undergraduates by providing role models for school pupils. To help teachers by providing an assistant who can work with and support pupils at any point on the ability spectrum.
Only a limited number of places are available and interested students will be encouraged to apply by a standard procedure and will be selected on the basis of their commitment and suitability for working in schools.

Assessable learning outcomes:
Students will gain a broad understanding of many of the key practical aspects of teaching science in schools. Students should be able to plan, resource and deliver a selected teaching activity. Students will have gained experience of explaining and answering questions on science at all relevant levels and demonstrating certain aspects of practical science in front of groups of pupils. Students will be expected to closely analyze a particular problem or learning issue, to carry out an in depth study, collect results and draw conclusions. As well as a daily log and lesson plans, students will be expected to produce a full report on the project, referring to the literature where appropriate and drawing conclusions. They should be able to present their results in a logical and legible form in their written report, to give an oral presentation of their work, be capable of discussing their project report in a viva and able to respond to questions on their presentation.

Additional outcomes:
Students will gain an understanding of the secondary education system and the key aspects of teaching science in schools. Students will further develop a range of transferable skills including, oral and written communication skills, public speaking and presentation skills, team working and interpersonal and organizational skills. In addition students should develop an understanding the needs of individuals, an appreciation of staff responsibilities and conduct and the ability to improvise. They will learn how to prioritise and negotiate and may have to practise handling difficult and potentially disruptive situations.

Outline content:
Students will be assigned to work with a member of staff from the providing department and the school. Students will be given basic training in working in a school environment. Initial contact in the school will be in an observational role as a classroom assistant. Following this the teacher will assign the student specific teaching tasks. Students will carry out an individual project designed to demonstrate that the student can analyse a particular teaching and learning problem and devise and prepare appropriately targeted teaching materials. A full description of the module content, delivery and assessment is given in the Appendix to this module description.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
Approx 9 hours work/week (to include time in school, preparation and journal report writing).

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures
Training	8		1
Practicals	90	90
Other contact (eg study visits)	2
Total hours	100	90
Number of essays or assignments
Other (eg major seminar paper)			project report

Assessment:
Coursework
The student will be required to keep a journal of their progress of working in a classroom environment and to write an evaluative report based upon this journal. All lesson plans, surveys, project materials, learning resources produced etc should be presented as evidence of coursework. An interim report must be submitted at the end of the autumn term and the final project report submitted by the named date in the summer term immediately after the oral presentation. The project report will be assessed by two members of staff. Students should be aware that the project report will be subject to a check for plagiarism. Instructions for submitting the report will be given at the end of the spring term. Guidance on good practice on avoiding plagiarism can be found in the Handbook.
Relative percentage of coursework : 100 %
Performance during the project (Teacher's Assessment) 10%
Journal and coursework materials (Supervisor's and Assessor's mark) 20%
Final project report (Supervisor's and Assessor's agreed mark) 50%
Assessment of final oral presentation 20%
Penalties for late submission
In accordance with University policy 10% of the total marks available will be deducted from course work which is submitted up to one week late. Work submitted later than this will receive no credit unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Examinations
None

Requirements for a pass in this module
40 %
Reassessment arrangements
It is not possible to retake this module in the same format. If a student fails the overall programme, reassessment will be by re-submission of the project report followed by an oral examination in the September following final examinations.