Twenty First Century Science - Nuffield Foundation



TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

A Twenty First Century Science:

its rationale and design

for senior managers, subject leaders and teachers

Twenty First Century Science is a set of GCSE science courses developed to give all 14 to 16 year olds a worthwhile and inspiring experience of science.

The strength of the programme is that it meets the needs, through flexible options, of those who will go on to be professional scientists and of those who will not.

This section gives you an overview.

Contents

A1 C21 compared with other GCSE science specs

A2 Ppt: Overview of the full suite of C21 science courses

A3 Ppt: GCSE Additional Science

A4 Ppt GCSE Additional Applied Science

A5 Separate Sciences and what they consist of

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

A1 Twenty First Century Science compared with other GCSE science specifications

After almost a decade of discussion and consultation, the Programme of Study for KS4 science changed from September 2006. In place of a standard offer of GCSE Double Award Science targeted at most students, every Awarding Body now offers a suite of single award GCSE science courses that can be combined in a variety of ways.

Twenty First Century Science is unique in meeting the criticisms of a ‘one size fits all’ science curriculum by offering a complementary set of courses, each with its own flavour.

The key ideas behind the Twenty First Century Science model are:

• that the compulsory core of school science should be designed to develop scientific literacy for all students,

• that from the age of 14, one or more parallel courses are needed for those who wish to prepare them for more advanced study in science, and

• that all of these courses are distinct and should differ in content and character.

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Separate Sciences routes are also available – see item A5.

GCSE Science aims to develop the ‘scientific literacy’ that everyone needs not only to play a full part in a society shaped by science and technology but also to appreciate what science has to tell us about ourselves and our world, and about how the scientific community works. This includes knowledge about the nature of scientific knowledge, its applications and implications. For some students, the new curriculum also provides the first stage in their training as scientists or careers that involve some science. This is a small but very important minority.

Part of the rationale for the Twenty First Century Science model is the argument that offering ‘science for all’ and ‘science for scientists’ as distinct courses makes it possible to do both jobs better.

Much thought also went into developing the alternative approaches to additional science.

GCSE Additional Science has an emphasis on explaining and theorising which prepares for the more advanced study needed by scientists, engineers and medical practitioners.

GCSE Additional Applied Science develops practical scientific capability and underpins more advanced courses leading to technical occupations in health care, agriculture, the communication industries and so on.

AQA sciences

AQA’s new GCSE science courses (GCSE Science, GCSE Additional Science, GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Physics) all focus on practical and enquiry skills as well as content. The GCSE Additional Applied Science has three required workplace contexts (sports science, food science and forensic science).

Edexcel 360 Sciences

The Edexcel GCSE science courses (GCSE Science, GCSE Additional Science, GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Physics) all incorporate ‘how science works’ aspects as well as science content in the written exam papers. Applications and implications of science specification statements use the stems ‘Explore …’ and ‘Discuss …’ The coursework addresses skills associated with practical enquiry.

OCR Gateway

The examinable content of Gateway GCSE Science was chosen so as to focus on ‘science for citizens’. Its coursework includes a ‘Science in the media’ written report and practical ‘Can-do’ tasks. GCSE Additional Science includes other concepts necessary to progression in sciences post-16. OCR expects its Gateway centres to do GCSE Additional Applied Science from the Twenty First Century Science suite.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

A2 Overview of the full suite of C21 science courses

Powerpoint presentation

A3 GCSE Additional Science

Powerpoint presentation

A4 GCSE Additional Applied Science

Powerpoint presentation

Download these presentations from

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

A5 Separate Sciences and what they consist of

GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Physics are three full GCSE courses.

Students study all of the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics modules from both GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science.

For each of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics there is an extension module to complete the full GCSE.

In most schools students will have a better experience, and complete the courses in less time, if the various elements are running concurrently rather than consecutively. It will make sense to do some of the content of the Further module during Years 10 and 11 rather than leaving all of it to the end. The OUP module Overviews for B7, C7 and P7 show how to do this.

Here is a list of modules in each course.

GCSE Biology GCSE Chemistry GCSE Physics

From GCSE Science

|B1 You and your genes |C1 Air quality |P1 Earth in the Universe |

|B2 Keeping healthy |C2 Material choices |P2 Radiation and life |

|B3 Life on Earth |C3 Food matters |P3 Radioactive materials |

From GCSE Additional Science

|B4 Homeostasis |C4 Chemical patterns |P4 How and why things move |

|B5 Growth and development |C5 Chemicals of the natural environment|P5 Electric circuits |

|B6 Brain and mind |C6 Chemical synthesis |P6 The wave model of radiation |

Further Separate Science module

|B7 Biology across the ecosystem |C7 Chemistry for a sustainable world |P7 Observing the Universe |

Twenty First Century Science Training pack 2

downloaded from

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Most students also do one of these

Additional Applied Science

10% curriculum time

or

All students do this

GCSE Science

10% curriculum time

Emphasis on scientific literacy

(science for all)

Additional Science

10% curriculum time

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