www.earthscienceeducation.com earth science/geology in uk schools today prof chris king education...

www.earthscienceeducation.com

Earth Science/Geology in UK Schools today

Prof Chris King

Education Dept, Keele University

Director, Earth Science Education Unit

Chair, Earth Science Teachers’ Association Secondary Working Group



A-level entry GCSE entry England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland What the educational research shows The Earth Science Education Unit What HE could do


England and Wales - A-level

A-level entry was falling steadily - it plateaued but fell again last year

Advanced level Geology entries by gender U.K. 1971-2004

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

19711973

19751977

19791981

19831985

19871989

19911993

19951997

19992001

2003

entr

ies

Male Female Total



as a percentage of all A-levels - similar

Advanced level Geology entries as a percentage of total entry U.K. 1971-2004

0.0

0.1

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Geo

logy

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Falls in comprehensive schools - a plateau in sixth form colleges

Advanced level Geology entries by centre type U.K. 1971-2001

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1200

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ent

ries

Grammar Secondary Modern Comprehensive Independent

6th Form College Further Education Private

UK 1971 - 2004



Having overtaken Geology, Environmental Science A-level has fallen below Geology recently

Advanced level Geology and Environmental Science entries U.K. 1971-2004

0

1000

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6000

19711973

19751977

19791981

19831985

19871989

19911993

19951997

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ent

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ES total Geol total Geol & ES total


E & W - AS-level

New AS-level looked promising - but it is falling too - particularly boys

Advanced Subsidiary Geology entries U.K. 2001-2004

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500

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ries

Male Female Total


E & W - AS- A- level figures

2004 A-level Geology - 1689 2004 AS-level Geology - 2148 2004 Environmental Science - 1215 (around 1/4 geology) 2004 GCSE Geology - 709

In 2000, 367 centres were teaching A, AS or GCSE Geology 2 Awarding Bodies (Exam Boards -WJEC, OCR) offer A and AS-

level 1 Awarding Body (WJEC) offers GCSE Geology


E & W GCSE - 2005(14 - 16 year olds)

92% (583,1000) examined in Science ) Double 71% (450,900) examined in Add Science) Award 7% (46,000) examined in Biology, Chemistry &

Physics (- ‘triple award’)

30% (188,400) examined in Geography full courses and 2% (36,200) in short courses

< 1% examined in Env. Science (water cycle, supply and conservation) - AQA (a total of 7,600 students took ‘other sciences, that include Env. Science and Geology)

<1% examined in Geology – WJEC (709)

Key Stage 3 (11 - 14 year olds) percentages of 113 statements

Biology - 29.2%

Physics - 26.5%

Chemistry - 18.6%

Scientific enquiry - 16.8%

Earth science - 4.4%

Astronomy - 4.4%

Earth science% difficult to calculate

Around 1/4 ES/geology

All ES/geology


England and Wales

Earth Science education is supported by: The Earth Science Teachers’ Association, since 1969 The Earth Science Education Forum (England and Wales), since

2002 Earth Science Education Forum - Cymru, since 2006 The Education Committee of the Geological Society, since 2006 The Earth Science Education Unit, since 1999


Scotland

No Earth science is found in the science curriculum However, Earth science is found in the 5 - 14 Geography and

Science curricula - taught by primary teachers and Geography specialists

Geology is taught at ‘Higher’ level - at about 40 centres - this number is falling

Because of major concern about the low level of Earth science in Scottish schools, the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum (SESEF) has been formed

A full time Development Officer has been appointed - supported by Scottish Heritage funding


Northern Ireland

The Earth science in the NI National Science curriculum was removed during one of the curriculum revisions

Earth Science in the NI National Geography Curriculum is very limited

The ES2K group has been formed to lobby for geology, first in Northern Ireland and now across all Ireland


Earth science educational research

Subject Specialism of Teachers currently teaching National Curriculum Earth Science at KS3 (n = 162)

Biology32%

Chemistry33%

Physics31%

Geology2%

Other2% Most teachers

teaching Earth science are biology, chemistry or physics specialists



Their background is poor

Most use, as their main resource, science textbooks written for pupils or usetheir own colleagues

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Assistance from colleagues in school Science Dept.

Assistance from colleagues in school Geography Dept.

Professional development (INSET) provided nationally

Professional development (INSET) provided locally

Materials published by government departments

Distance learning TV materials (OU)

Distance learning degree course publications (OU)

Popular TV programmes on Geology/ES

Popular Geology/ES books

Geology/ES textbooks for 16-18 year olds (A-level)

Geology/ES textbooks for 14-16 year olds (KS4)

Worksheets published for NCS Earth science

Textbooks covering only NCS Earth science

Other school science textbooks

Course texts for 14-16 year olds (KS4)

Course texts for 11-14 year olds (KS3)

Number

26%

37%

8%

23%

2% 4%

No ES background

up to 16 and no higher

to A-level

some ES at degree level

other only

PGCE part only



The government Council for Science and Technology survey supported these findings

Use of information by

secondary science teachers

Third party material

used by teachers

Use of information by secondary science teachers - CST report (n = 576)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Colleagues

Courses

Periodicals

CD ROMs

Videos

Other books

Textbooks

used frequently used occasionally used rarely

Sources of third party materials used by secondary science teachers - CST report (n= 576)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

ASE

Museums

Charities

Governmentagencies

Society publications

Industry publications

used frequently used occasionally used never not aware of resources



The mean error level in the

Earth science content of

science textbooks - 1 per page

Major errors shown by

teachers - pre-workshop

Mean number of Earth science errors per page of science textbook

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

KS3 - 1

KS3 - 3

KS3 - 5

KS3 - 7

KS3 - 9

KS3 - 11

KS4 - 1

KS4 - 3

KS4 - 4

KS4 - 6

KS4 - 8

KS4 - 10

Mean

Percentage of teachers who showed major errors in answering the question

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Knowledge of the thickness of the crust

Understanding of how ‘S’ wave velocities change withdepth

Re-assembly of Pangaea

Understanding of which volcanoes are likely to havemagma of mantle origin and which of plate-melt origin

Knowledge of which earthquakes are likely to be ofdeep focus origin

Knowledge of the plate tectonic contexts in whichheat flow is likely to be high or low

Knowledge of the states of the layers of the Earth from the lithosphere to inner core(solid, partial solid,

partial liquid or liquid)

Knowledge of how density changes with depth in theEarth

Percentage



The results of an analysis by Joyce and Showers

of 200 studies of the effectiveness of staff development amongst teachers

(“Effective” = have some measurable effect on pupils)Inset

practicesEffect on teachers ...

knowledgewhat they know

skillwhat they can do

practicewhat they do inthe classroom

Provideinformationand theory

Some None None

... plusdemonstration Some Some None

... plusopportunity topractice

SIGNIFICANT Some None

... plus givefeedback SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT Little

... plusprovidecoaching

SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT


The Earth Science Education Unit

90 minute workshops presented to: secondary science departments across England and Wales upper primary teachers in Scotland PGCE science students in teacher training institutions

in order to: enhance their background Earth science knowledge showcase a variety of engaging Earth science activities enhance effective use of practical activities in science develop critical thinking and investigational skills in pupils



Small central team, Director, Administrator, Researcher

Facilitators appointed, trained and available across Great Britain

38 in England/Wales 12 in Scotland facilitators paid only for

workshop delivery low fixed costs + great

flexibility


Workshopsmore than 4,400 teachers - teaching more than 1,080,000 pupilsmore than 3,200 trainee teachers

Ambassadorial eventsmore than 5100 adultsmore than 4700 children


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1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005Year

Nu

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sits

Schools KS3 strategy Meetings/conferences PGCE institutions Scotland Ambassadorial Other

Most common responses from 2601 workshop questionnaires 2003-2005

Evidence for impact on the day

ESEU progress

I found the effectiveness of the INSET to be

The interest of the INSET was

The relevance of the INSET was

The value of the INSET to me was

High Low1 2 3 4 5



ESEU progressComments from teachers:

“I was made to feel enthusiastic about earth sciences, which I never thought would happen.”

“the activities were simple enough to use in lessons without major resource implications. ”

“Gave me ideas for teaching what can be a 'chalk and talk' subject.”

“…good activities will give me much more confidence in classroom…”

“An introduction to something I know nothing about.”

“I won't think rocks are so boring in future.”

“I am appalled that I have been teaching Earth sciences incorrectly - as I got my references/ideas from published science books! This workshop gave me the opportunity to learn more…”

“The best INSET day I have ever had.”

“…bloody hell - it's clicked, wow!…”


ESEU progress

Change in classroom practice (2005): 47 schools contacted a year after workshop 15 responded to questionnaire:

• 12 had rewritten their Scheme of Work (SoW) to include ESEU activities

• 2 were in the process of revising their SoW

• 1 does not have SoW, but were using new ESEU activities On analysis of levels of use of individual activities:

• 6 schools showed significant increase

• 4 schools showed moderate increase

• 5 schools showed modest increase


What can HE do?

Not: ‘galvanise the Earth Science Teachers’ Association (ESTA)’

But: support the Earth Science Teachers’ Association (ESTA) and its

work with the Earth Science Education Unit

And the best method of support is …..


What can HE do?

… to encourage your local secondary schools to invite ESEU to present one or more of the free ESEU INSET workshop to them

You could do this through: a schools loan scheme (Leeds) an undergraduate ambassador scheme (Cambridge) including an Earth science communication module in your degree

(Edinburgh) - and testing it on local schools employing a part-time person to link to local schools (Derby?)

…. WITH THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF INTRODUCING ESEU TO THE SCHOOLS


What can HE do?

Attending the ESTA Seminar for Schools Liaison Officers in HE: Bristol University Friday 15th September Part of the meeting a joint one with A-level teachers - to promote a

dialogue Focussed on sharing ideas £50 for the day For more details, contact the Conference Organiser, Martin

Whiteley - [email protected]



Prof Chris King

Education Dept, Keele University

Director, Earth Science Education Unit

Chair, Earth Science Teachers’ Association Secondary Working Group

www.earthscienceeducation.com earth science/geology in uk schools today prof chris king education...

Documents

level geology

gcse geology slide

level new

level figures

level s falls

environmental science

science award

year slide