KS3 Science Now: Learn and practice book: IS

BN978-0-00-853152-2
KS3 Science Now: Teacher Pack: ISBN978-0-00-853155-3

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Introduction

The new Collins KS3 Science Now is neither a textbook, nor a scheme of work, but endeavours to ‘enrich and update’ existing schemes of learning as an additional student resource. A Teacher Pack is available, with free download access to customisable, and printable, materials. 

Structure

The Learn and practice book (student book) 

Fully covering the Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) curriculum, eighteen units are shared equally between biology, chemistry and physics. All are structured in the same way. Each begins with a unit ‘road map’, followed by starter activities based on big questions addressed by the unit, career profiles, a Knowledge Organiser and unit-based practice questions that include a worked example. The final double-page spread of every unit consists of a ‘Maths and practical skills’ set of questions, relating to the unit. The whole structure is based on thematic principles and is flexible, so that it can be integrated with an existing scheme of learning. 

The Teacher Pack

The backbone to the Teacher Pack is a teacher book. This includes mapping and progression rationale for curriculum content, maths skills and working scientifically skills. There are ideas for using the starter activities, commentaries on some questions to contextualise them, identification of interleaving opportunities and a bank of retrieval questions. It also has download instructions for the customisable, and printable, materials that comprise the remainder of the Teacher Pack:

• KS3 Science Now Teacher Pack: The entire Teacher Book in Word and PDF format.
• Knowledge Organisers: One for each unit, colour, PDF format.
• PowerPoint presentations: One for each unit, colour, supporting ‘starter’ activities, careers profiles, ‘Road map’, Knowledge Organiser, vocabulary support and retrieval questions.
• Retrieval questions: One set of questions and answers for each unit, monochrome, Word format.
• Vocabulary quizzes: One for each unit split into two parts, monochrome, Word format.

Progression

‘Road maps’ within the Learn and Practice book are useful tools to use with students. They relate Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) content to the learning outcomes for ideas within the unit and they explain how learning progresses to Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16), specifically for AQA Combined Science. The Teacher Pack develops this further through ‘Progression Mapping’, linking descriptors from the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum with headings from the Key Stages 3 and 4 Programmes of Study. This is useful to remind teachers of the connections to which they should draw attention in their medium-term planning and to map the book’s units more easily to their existing resources. 

The ‘Curriculum Mapping’ section within in the Teacher Pack shows careful sequencing of concepts from unit to unit. However, because the book may be used flexibly with any Key Stage 3 scheme, the map has a rationale for the sequence of learning within each unit too: it identifies how new concepts build on prior learning from Key Stage 2 and how subsequent concepts further extend learning within the unit.

Learning science

Within the Learn and Practice book, Knowledge Organisers summarise key subject knowledge for students. They are intended to explain ideas as one would see in a textbook, although there may be a risk here of too much information that may overwhelm students. However, as a resource to use alongside and after teacher input, the Knowledge Organisers support student self-regulation, especially for those attempting the high challenge questions. ‘Fill in the gap’-type sheets, with more white space, are available to download and may be preferable for some students. Colour diagrams are clear and helpful, with their relevant text next to them. Printing the downloaded sheets in monochrome may further reduce cognitive load when working with material. The two-column, alphabetical ‘Key vocabulary’ lists for students to cover and self-test highlight ‘tier three’ subject-specific language required for the related unit. The resource is even more digestible when paired with the student vocabulary sheets.

Within the Learn and practice book, each unit has two pages of high-quality questions with three levels of challenge: the most accessible first, then leading to questions with greater demand. One of the book’s main strengths lies here with the sheer number, variety and style of questions that allow students to achieve mastery. Questions may be used flexibly with the teacher selecting those most appropriate for groups or individuals. There are ‘Maths and practical skills’ questions integrated within the units themselves at the end of each unit. They require students to apply knowledge and ideas met through pages earlier in the chapter. This combination works to ensure that both disciplinary knowledge and substantive knowledge are both addressed. The Teacher Pack includes a useful ‘Question commentary’ for each unit, which discusses important points that a non-specialist or early career teacher might miss.

The question pages within Learn and Practice can be used to check understanding, for student-talk, or for revision. They also offer a useful resource for cover lessons when used in combination with a textbook. Note however that the answers are available for students at the back of the book. The question pages feel more accessible, with more white space, but the text is sometimes quite dense for the most challenging questions. However, of four readability checks carried out, all were in the relevant age range. There is at least one ‘Worked example’ per unit, which provides support for students, especially if they have seen similar questions modelled during teacher instruction. 

The Teacher Pack includes tables that identify common misconceptions and ideas that students find most challenging. This is very useful when planning teaching, especially for non-specialists and early career teachers. For example, when introducing the concept of variation within species, we are reminded that students may believe that acquired characteristics can be inherited and, should this be diagnosed, a relevant response to students is provided. Interestingly, other misconceptions are omitted, for example, the common misconception that there are differences between species, but no variation between individuals of the same species. However, the authors have chosen a selection of most of the accessible high impact misconceptions, and this important tool can remind us to build on student preconceptions.

Big Picture

The front page for each unit introduces a framework to ‘zoom in’ on why we seek to understand the concept, and how we can use it in a real-life context. The insights into so many related careers are interesting and I am sure help answer the question ‘But when would I ever use science?’, stimulating some engaging conversations about our subject.

Conclusions

KS3 Science Now is a well-developed resource, doing much of the hard work for teachers in writing a multitude of high-quality questions of differing level of challenge. The collections of maths and practical skills questions are in context. The Knowledge Organisers summarise the whole of Key Stage 3 Science and begin to make connections to concepts met more fully in Key Stage 4. It is a fresh take on a book that is not a textbook.