Science teaching: Make it more interesting!

William Atkins
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 19:55

Science - Biology

The BBC is reporting that science lessons in the United Kingdom should be made more interesting for the students, however, sometimes they are dull because of ill-informed teachers. Such problems are apparent all over the world. But, they don't need to be.

A Report by the UK Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) states that sometimes teachers in the United Kingdom lack the educational background to teach science properly.

According to the BBC article “Tests make science dull – Ofsted," the report “… is based on visits to 90 primary and 105 secondary schools in England between 2004 and 2007."

The Ofsted website (“Science lessons should be more stimulating, says Ofsted”), in addition, states “… the most stimulating and engaging teaching occur when science is bought to life and pupils are given the chance to conduct, evaluate and record their own investigations rather than rely solely on textbooks.”

On the positive side of the report, Ofsted states that most teaching and learning of science in UK schools were “at least satisfactory in almost all of the schools visited” and “around three quarters of the lessons were good.” [Ofsted]

Schools Minister Jim Knight stated within the BBC article: "As the Ofsted report today shows there are some brilliant examples of schools bringing science to life. We want all schools to be working at this level.”

Knight added, “We have invested heavily in school buildings and there are now 6,600 new or improved science labs."

However, new buildings and improved science labs are not the whole answer. New buildings will not help if teaching is ineffective and students do not learn from their teachers.

On the down side, Ofsted comments that the standards used in the teaching of science has remained virtually unchanged over the years. Members of Ofsted point out particular weaknesses in the planning and assessment of science teaching.

The BBC reports that Ofsted inspectors recommended that more experiments be performed within science teaching. Particularly, all aspects of science teaching should be made more interesting.

One section of the BBC article was particularly eye opening. Please read on.