Teacher resource: ISBN 979-0-00849210-6

Student workbook: ISBN 979-0-00849209-0

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Introduction

The demands of the current 9-1 GCSE Combined Science specifications remain high and, whilst some students relish the challenge of their courses, others struggle to develop a robust understanding of the substantive knowledge alongside the disciplinary knowledge. This teacher resource book and student workbook are aimed at supporting those students who struggle with science, to give them the best opportunity to succeed in their final examinations.

The books provide teachers and students with an intervention programme and resources to help reteach troublesome topics. The teacher resource book complements the student workbook through guided instruction, although the student workbook can be used as a standalone resource for independent study. Both resources draw upon the online Adapt ® package, which is not part of this evaluation.

Structure

The programme of intervention is suitable for all of the 9-1 combined science courses regulated by Ofqual, but it is mapped against the AQA Combined Science: Trilogy specification. To enable flexibility, the teacher resource suggests different pathways, from delivery of the full course to an accelerated ten-session intervention programme, with an additional independent study programme. The full course of 30 sessions is constructed to slot into the 12-week period prior to the final GCSE examinations.

Clear mapping of each session shows progression from Key Stage 3 learning, specification links and key ideas such as collision theory. The suggested pathway through the teacher-led interventions provides differing degrees of detail, from simply the order of sessions to the explicit instruction for using specific questions for students to practise interleaving across the specification.

Each of the 30 sessions follows a structure of Think > Connect > Solve > Practise. The Teacher Resource leads the teacher through this sequence with clear signposting to relevant sections of the Student Book, such as the Knowledge Organisers and Additional Writing Frames and Additional Practice questions.

The “Think” phase is intended for students to retrieve prior learning and consider its relevance to a stimulating question. Within the teacher resource, common misconceptions are highlighted, which is particularly useful for teachers teaching outside of their specialism and those beginning their careers. There are some clear examples of guidance for addressing misconceptions using concrete examples, often utilising supporting key idea cards found in the teacher resource book. Using the cards aids students in organising their prior learning before the next task within the session.

The “Connect” phase of the session draws heavily upon the videos found with Adapt ®, but it is possible to substitute these with traditional teaching. The section includes several teaching tips that focus on how the content is examined within the GCSEs. This helps direct classroom discussion towards key concepts that are more likely to result in improved attainment. Students are supported with a knowledge organiser for key ideas within the session to use in building the connections within their schema.

The next section, “Solve” revisits the prompt question initially presented to the students at the beginning of the session. Additional scaffolding provided to the students helps them to build confidence in working logically through questions and identify key steps needed to answer a question, and signposts success criteria. 

The “Practise” element is organised slightly differently, with command words taking precedence. Each session has at least one question assigned within the “Additional Practice” section of the student book. Navigation is supported by contents pages within each section, alongside direction provided within the teacher and student book. The Writing Frames and Additional Questions in the student book are a strength of the resource. They are not overwhelming, and support students in identifying how command words may be used in different contexts. This in turn supports them to develop confidence in understanding assessment terminology. As the resource is intended to support intervention for students who may be sitting foundation tier examinations, the volume and pitch of these questions are appropriate.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge

It may seem that the focus of the intervention programme is on developing a more secure understanding of scientific concepts, but many of these are framed using questions based around practical work in science. This increases the exposure of students to data and apparatus diagrams, such as methods for making salts using excess metal oxides or carbonates. The resource therefore interweaves substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

Many of the additional practice questions explicitly highlight where a command word, e.g. estimate, may be used in a question relating to a practical procedure. The command word justify is not used in isolation, but challenges students to evidence their learning and their decision-making process in their responses. This allows their teacher to gain an accurate understanding of their misconceptions, or identify gaps in knowledge that need addressing. The focus on command words by the resource supports students’ higher order thinking skills.

Mathematics skills and where they are frequently assessed in science have been considered well in the resource. The proportion of mathematical practice questions reflects the mathematical requirements for biology, chemistry and physics of the specifications. There are opportunities for balancing equations and interpreting graphs, as well as using formulae to calculate values.

Within the student workbook, knowledge organisers for each key idea are supported by a combination of diagrams and text. Some diagrams serve as prompts for students to recall practical activities, whilst others provide typical contexts used in teaching and assessment: for example, by using a rollercoaster to illustrate energy stores and pathways. The vast majority of the diagrams used are simplistic, specifically to draw attention to key features. This is the only negative feature of the resource, as omission of some features without qualification can lead to misconceptions. For example, diagrams of the root hair cell and leaf cell are too simplistic to show key specialisations and so these images are not as effective as they might be. Similarly, the image of the muscle cell would need exploration with the teacher to enable students to identify key features.

Conclusions

This is a fantastic resource for teachers who may be picking up a group midway through the GCSE, teaching out of their specialism or those beginning their careers. It provides structure for teacher-led revision lessons that can focus on developing foundation tier students’ confidence in preparation for final examinations, but still holds value for some higher tier students. Furthermore, the student workbook provides ample opportunities for students to develop their independent revision skills through carefully sequenced tasks.

The student book is priced at £8.99 and so a little more expensive than a revision guide. However, it offers much more than a revision guide because of the wealth of additional practice questions. The teacher resource is expensive at £150, but it includes the course online as well as in print and would be an excellent resource to buy using Pupil Premium funding.