I am not a teacher but I did have a very close look at some curriculae a
year or two ago when I was writing GCSE revision podcasts (actually for
the older sylabus) and my impression was that for single science the old
curriculum was horrible - for example it included having to learn what a
transformer was without including V=IR or P=VI, which turns it into an
exercise in learning random facts. I think this was a consequence of the
way it was written as a modular double science course and then cut down
by throwing away anything 'difficult' rather than starting from scratch.
My overall impression was that the 21st century science curriculum looked
like an improvement for people not continuing with science, but partly
because it appeared to be written as a single science course and then
scaled up, which meant that it wasn't coherent as a course and didn't have
enough in it. The things I would want to teach in single science are not
all a subset of the things I would want to teach in a triple science
course - I would want to use different examples, and teach them in a
different order.
My impression was that this was more of a problem than the philosophy
behind the 21st century course - as so often in education, implementation
is more important than philosophy.
Of course the other effect is that exams make science and maths boring for
bright kids. I definitely remember this effect 15 years ago when the
pressures on teachers were a lot less. Essentially there is far less
flexibility to do the things that the teachers and students find
interesting, and much more emphasis on making sure that everyone in the
class understands everything.
but I don't have any experience in teaching in a 'formal' environment...
have fun
Dave Ansell
www.chaosscience.org.uk www.thenakedscientists.com
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