One urban coastal co-educational Bay of Plenty secondary school offers a level 6 course based on the theme of “Survival at the Mount”.
By providing an element of student choice and working to the strengths of the teaching staff, this course provides a pathway to further study at level 7–8 as well as a sound, context-rich learning experience for those students who are unlikely to proceed further in science.
The students were involved in designing their own learning and assessment within the course. This approach involved preliminary planning in the preceding year, and ongoing refinement and adaptation during the year, to meet the diverse needs of the students.
In the year before the course was offered, science staff and year 10 students took part in a series of brainstorming sessions about survival and what it might mean for their local community.
Teachers then explored what resources were available in the local community and what economic factors were involved in survival for the area. They linked their findings to The New Zealand Curriculum to develop a one-year science course with a local flavour.
The focus statements that came out of the brainstorming sessions were:
The course was student-centred with students posing the questions and then pursuing knowledge and investigating answers/solutions to their own questions.
Whenever possible, links to other science contexts were explored to stimulate student interest and to expand the scope of their inquiries.
It was important to retain individual choice for the students, in order to provide different learning opportunities for their diverse learning styles, interests, and cultural experiences. Students were also given choice in the number, timing, and style of the assessments.
Within the enduring theme “Survival is an individual and community responsibility”, students worked with teachers to refine their inquiry questions in a series of steps:
The relevant achievement objectives in the chemistry indicators also suggested possible ways of assessing students’ understanding.
Students had a say in how and when their learning was assessed. As well as choice between internal or external assessment this involved flexibility in the kind of evidence required for internally assessed standards. Some of the choices were:
The relevant standards included:
Student feedback has been largely positive. They valued being able to choose something that interests them, and having a selection of different internal assessment styles. The advance subject selections for next year show an increased number of students opting for level 7 science courses.
Staff are really engaged in the course and enjoy the variety of topics being covered – a huge shift from the standard course that the college used to offer.
See also:
Last updated May 6, 2013