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Teaching secondary science
This free course, Teaching secondary science, will identify and explore some of the key issues around science pedagogy in secondary schools. Through coming to understand these issues and debates, you will reflect on your practice as a science teacher and develop a greater awareness of the wider context of science education and how this affects science in the secondary school curriculum
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- classify and analyse practical work according to its purpose and learning outcomes
- identify ways in which the nature of science can be reflected through school science
- use different resources and approaches to support students’ understanding of the nature of science
- set out the case for the inclusion of controversial issues in the school curriculum
- select an appropriate approach to teaching controversial issues.
First Published: 13/04/2016
Updated: 22/06/2016
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Great course, thank you. It really allows you to critically think about the way we teach science and why. I was especially fascinated by the video about the discovery of the cause of ulcers. I had never really thought about the struggle the scientists can have to get their work published even when they know they are correct and have a lot of evidence to back up their hypothesis. I also found the part of teaching controversial topics in science, which all of us do. It's allowed me to put in perspective how my own idealogy can influence how I teach and how I need to step back from that at times to allow students to develop their own ideas