The Science of Teaching Science

My weekly science lessons are the highlight of my week.  Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching on the other days but Tuesdays science class combines my two favourite things – teaching and science.  Students who need science tuition don’t know how to learn science and remember it.  To learn science there are three steps:

1.  first need to understand it

2. then apply it to questions or even real life examples

3. then remember it

When I was at school my Biology teacher would dictate pages and pages of notes for the whole lesson.  Occasionally we had a practical lesson, but the best lessons were the ones where she would ask us to put our books away and ask questions.  We would spend the whole lesson taking turns to ask her questions related to the topics we had been studying. This method of teaching helped us to understand, apply and remember the topic.

My science lessons are student led, I have a lesson planned, but most times I walk in not knowing what I will end up teaching.  I encourage students to use scientific words when asking questions and when talking about science.  New students rarely contribute to class discussions and don’t understand how science matters to their lives.

A new student will ask “Miss, is it true that mobile phones can kill you if you use them too much?”

Whereas a regular student will ask “Miss, is it true that the microwave radiation emitted from a mobile phone can cause mutations and lead to cancer?”

Do you see the difference? This was a question which came up in a physics topic on the electromagnetic spectrum.  The discussion continued onto cancer to treatment of cancer to Ebola to vaccination to drug discovery to forensic science and so on.

I find that teaching science in this way helps the students to remember more as it relates to their lives.  It makes science less abstract and more interesting.

My science lessons are every Tuesday from 4.30 to 5.30.  Call 01582 402225 to book your child in.