Seminar Meetings
Cambridge (Faculty of Education) Seminar Series
Lent Term 2003-4 Seminar: Saturday 28th February, 2004
Pigs, sheep and scientific futures: activating children through science
Ralph Levinson
School of Maths, Science and Technology
Institute of Education
University of London
Science and technology loom so large on the political agenda they can no longer be ignored. One only has to read the tabloid headlines to understand that ivf, Dolly the Sheep, designer babies, MMR and global warming have become part of our everyday discourse. Developments in science and technology emerge with ever-increasing rapidity.
Some of these issues are in the science curriculum, others are addressed through PSHE, citizenship, RE and other subjects and pupils will bring their own thoughts, opinions and perceptions to the classroom. These are not easy to deal with because they involve ethical, political and social ideas as well as science. Addressing socio-scientific issues influences science teaching pedagogy.
In this session we will:
- discuss how pupils can be motivated at different levels to address these issues within the context of the science curriculum, drawing on research findings and work already done in this area
- run workshops for teachers to rehearse approaches for themselves
There will be an introduction, workshop and plenary
PowerPoint Presentation
The "PowerPoint" presentation from this seminar can be downloaded to your hard drive:
Pigs_sheep.ppt (PowerPoint file; 532K)
