Using Forensic Laboratory Products as an Aid to Teaching Science

One of the challenges constantly facing science educators is making their topic relevant. This applies as much to the relevant bodies governing education as to its students.

Science contains a lot of large, complex ideas. Students can often find it hard to engage and relate with these ideas, especially if they cannot see how this knowledge will benefit them in the real world. Students can be very shrewd when learning new topics, and the question 'when will I ever need to know this?' is one that every teacher will surely have heard.

Call for Practical Science Experiments to be Protected in Curriculum

The Council for Science and Technology expressed in August its intention to write to the education secretary raising concerns over the science curriculum. The Council warns that the current focus on exams is squeezing practical laboratory experiments out of the curriculum. If things continue to progress down this path, the idea of school microscopes being a mainstay of any science lesson could soon become as antiquated as students playing with mercury.

Cramming for exams crowds out practical learning

In a letter to education secretary Michael Gove The Council for Science and Technology (CST) warns of the loss of practical science lessons as schools focus on preparing pupils for written exams. 

The council says that without practical learning, science lessons would be "like studying literature without reading books" and are lobbying for laboratory experiments to be protected in a shake-up of GCSEs and A-levels in England.

The CST, which provides strategic advice to the government says that the focus on exam grades is "pushing inspiring practical work into the margins as teachers concentrate on preparing for examinations". In it’s letter to Michael Gove the council states that practical learning should not be an optional extra but that laboratory based experiments are the "essence of science and should be at the heart of science learning"

The council believes that the changes to GCSEs and A-Levels should provide an opportunity to integrate more practical experiments into school science with teachers encouraged to "devise innovative and challenging practical based science curricula for their students, including more independent, project-based work".

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "The Council for Science and Technology rightly notes that our reforms 'will give teachers space and freedom' to conduct more experiments and practical’s. By scrapping modules and January assessments, our reforms will end the constant treadmill of exams and leave more time for experiments and practical’s in science. We have also prioritised experiments in our new curriculum. Pupils will focus on practical work in primary school so they are ready to move on to more advanced laboratory work in secondary school."

Accompanying the letter from the CST is a report which argues that there has been a "steady erosion" of laboratory skills in school science over the past 20 years so let’s hope the planned changes provide an opportunity to reverse this trend.

Council for science and technology

http://www.bis.gov.uk/cst

FREE On Site-Technical Support

Better Equipped is pleased to announce that Alan North has joined as Sales and Technical Coordinator. 

Alan brings with him many years of experience in the field and will be happy to provide free and relevant help, support and advice to our school and college customers as required. Please feel free to contact him on 07711 032862 or alan.north@betterequipped.co.uk
Alan can offer technical support via phone, email or face to face on site. This free service includes training, demonstrations, honest advice & support and stock items for you to evaluate at your leisure. Furthermore we are always willing to support events for technicians and teachers. Please get in touch with Alan if you are organising such an event and would like Better Equipped to attend.

We have moved

We're pleased to announce that we've moved to new, bigger premises. We've only moved a couple of miles from our previous base but our new warehouse has significantly more space and will enable us to expand our range more and hold larger stock quantities required to guarantee the fast delivery and high levels of customer service you've come to expect from Better Equipped. More importantly this extra space will also enable us to buy bigger quantities from our suppliers which will help us to further drive down prices for you.

 

Our new address is Wrenbury Business Park, Wrenbury Road, Wrenbury, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 8EB.

 

Please note that our phone, fax and email details will remain the same: Freephone 0800 970 7142, Free Fax 0800 066 4443, Email sales@betterequipped.co.uk

Our Biggest Ever Range

Over 2000 top selling science resources available

Following our move to bigger premises we now stock an even bigger range, in fact it’s our biggest ever range of science resources, with over 2000 top selling items available at www.betterequipped.co.uk

 

Furthermore if you can't find what you need, please contact us and we will look to source and supply your items at a market beating price!

 

And please don’t forget that across our range we continue to offer FREE DELIVERY for EVERY order over £75 and as before, there are NO CHEMICAL DELIVERY SURCHARGES on orders containing Chemicals for UK mainland delivery destinations.

Science in Schools – Why Does it Matter?

With constant budget reviews, the cost of teaching every subject on the curriculum is often under scrutiny. Even the main subjects haven’t escaped. Science is a relatively expensive subject to teach, needing specialised equipment, facilities, and staff, so it is hardly surprising that the costs involved in doing so are being examined.

It is worth understanding the importance of a strong education in the science subjects. High quality of teaching, and of the equipment available for students to use in their experiments, is vital in ensuring that pupils get the most out of their science education.

Economic benefits of science

Girls Shine on BTEC STEM Courses, We Just Need Numbers to Rise.

Pearson, the organisation which awards BTEC qualifications has shared data which shows where girls participate in skills based science and technology courses they outperform their male counterparts by being more likely to achieve the top grades.

Despite this success and as per science participation in a broader context boys significantly outnumber girls on STEM BTEC courses, but figures from Pearson also show that albeit from a low base the number of girls taking BTEC qualifications in STEM subjects is increasing.

This year, girls made up 5% of students taking engineering at BTEC Level Two, taken alongside GCSEs but more than a third (37%) of these girls gained a distinction, compared with 20% of boys.

In information technology (IT), girls made up 38% of the student population at Level Two but around a third (31%) gained a distinction, compared with 21% of the boys.

Rob Bristow, president of Pearson in the UK, said: "Still too few girls make the next step in a Stem-related career by studying these subjects at university. This is something educators, business and government all need to work on and put right."

"We know STEM skills are crucial to the high skills economy we will need in the future. Too often these are seen as 'boys' subjects'; today's figures show that, when girls do sign up to these vital subjects, they flourish."

The figures also show girls are out-performing their male colleagues in science, and while more girls are choosing to study science, technology, engineering and maths  (STEM), experts have warned that low numbers were going on to study these subjects at university and to have careers in these areas.

Helen Wollaston, director of WISE, (Women into Science and Engineering) said: “These results prove that girls can do science, IT and engineering; in fact, those that choose these subjects do better than boys. At a time when UK industry is crying out for more people with STEM qualifications, we have to get more of this female talent into the workforce."

Calls For Government Action To Get More Girls Studying A-Level Science.

The government is being urged to launch a nationwide careers service which would work alongside schools to encourage more girls to study science A-levels with the overall aim of increasing the number of women working in science.

Women are under-represented in a number of career sectors including science, technology, engineering and maths and the business select committee is pressing ministers to launch a nationwide careers service to address this under-representation.

The committee's chair, Adrian Bailey MP said: "We need to change the culture in schools which in so many cases presume there is a set of career paths for women.  A young person's influences are their peer group, teachers and parents. It's breaking into these groups to make them aware of the breadth of opportunities available that will make the difference."

The report highlighted inadequacies in the careers advice offered to young women and said the government should set targets for encouraging women into apprenticeships into sectors such as science, technology, engineering and maths where they are perennially under-represented.

The committee shared some worrying facts including the fact that only 20% of A-level physics students are girls, only 5% of fellows at the Royal Society of Chemistry are women and that women represent just 12% of workers in the field of astronomy.

The government has two months to respond to the report findings.

The full report on women in the workplace can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/on-publ-women-in-the-workplace/

UK Science Teaching Gets Vote Of Confidence - From Pupils!

A recent study commissioned by Wellcome Trust and carried out by Ipsos MORI asked 460 young people aged 14-18 about their experience of science education to better understand their interests and needs. A principle finding of the study is that for the most part pupils give a positive report on their own experience of secondary school science lessons.

Furthermore as a result of this positive classroom experience pupils also have an enthusiastic outlook towards careers in science, it’s a recognition of the great work science teachers are doing to engage and inspire the next generation of scientists.

Key facts from the study are that 82 per cent of pupils surveyed think school science lessons are interesting, and 58 per cent say they are more interesting than maths and English lessons. 82 per cent of young people also consider science to be a good area of employment to go into with 41% stating a level of interest in pursuing a science career.

So a key finding of the study reaffirms what many people already know - that the role of science teachers is absolutely critical in encouraging young people to enjoy, engage with and want to learn science. The irony is that many schools struggle to employ enough appropriately qualified science teachers and according to the Schools Workforce Census in 2012, only 55 per cent of physics teachers had a physics degree, 66 per cent of chemistry teachers had a chemistry degree and 79 per cent of biology teachers had a biology degree which again highlights the commitment of those who are teaching science to help inspire the next generation of scientists and hopefully the next generation of science teachers as well.

Source: Wellcome Trust Monitor

To Review the full report download the ‘Wave 2 research report’ document at the link below:

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Publications/Reports/Public-engagement/WTX058859.htm

EU Project Aims to Boost Undergraduate Studies in Science

EU Project Aims to Boost Undergraduate Studies in Science

by Increasing Engagement with Science Lessons at School

Across the EU the number of students enrolling in science degrees (especially in physical sciences) has decreased over the last decade. With the objective of reversing this trend an EU funded project 'ESTABLISH' (European Science and Technology in Action Building Links with Industry, Schools and Home) is looking to secondary school classrooms to become the catalyst for change.

11 European countries are collaborating in the €3.8m funded project which brings together a broad spectrum of the scientific community including teachers, parent groups, policy makers and academic researchers with the remit of driving change in classrooms of 12-18 year old pupils.

The project teams approach is to develop and implement innovative Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) units and teacher education programmes which will be adapted for each country across Europe.

Led by Dublin City University with coordination by Dr. Eilish McLoughlin the project aims to drive greater interest in science subjects at school, improve the take-up of science at university and also increase the number of career ready science and technology graduates.

Industry will play a key role in helping inform the project of real life experience of science in day to day applications as the ESTABLISH team seeks to help establish connections between science taught in the classroom and science carried out in industry.

ESTABLISH has already developed a number of new materials and resources  which are focused on developing authentic experiences in science, and to accompany this has also developed education programmes to help teachers adopt these new materials into their existing teaching plans. The project hopes this will help to improve engagement, stimulate learning and promote intrinsic motivation in students, and with the knock on benefit of raising awareness of career opportunities in science and technology.

For more information, please visit:

ESTABLISH

http://www.establish-fp7.eu/

Practical Science Spending in Secondary Education

The Science Community Representing Education (SCORE) recently released a report detailing the findings of their research into science spending in secondary schools. The results of their report raise cause for concern, with findings showing that many schools and academies across the country are significantly under‐resourced.

The report, entitled Under the Microscope: The State of Resourcing of Practical Science in Secondary Schools and Sixth‐Form Colleges in England, presents findings from the 557 responses returned by secondary schools and sixth‐form colleges in England. It highlights several important issues relating to funding for the three science subjects.

New Schools Science Equipment Catalogue Hot off the Press!

April 15th 2013 Our new Summer Catalogue is hot off the press!
 

We now offer FREE Technical Support. This is a new resource available to you for product demonstrations, training, refits etc. Please contact us if you would like us to arrange a site visit.

We have introduced FREE DELIVERY for EVERY order over £75.

There is also NO CHEMICAL DELIVERY SURCHARGE on orders containing Chemicals for UK mainland delivery destinations.

Irwin Power Supplies are back! The name Irwin is synonymous with excellent design, manufacturer, quality and service. The Irwin Power Supplies range has been re-vamped with production recommencing in the UK.

We now offer a comprehensive range of Adam Precision Balances. These quality balances are UK manufactured and are available at market beating prices.

We have increased our Gratnells storage range threefold, with the introduction of many complete Frame units and Trolleys. 

We have significantly increased our range of Jointed Glassware with the introduction of many high quality borosilicate products, all available in multiple joint sizes.

Low Prices. Our prices are set to match the cheapest price in the market for each product. We have checked comprehensively versus our competitor’s web prices, however if you find anything cheaper elsewhere, please contact us and we will match wherever possible for products with the same specification.

We have redesigned and re-launched our Website. It is really easy to navigate and use and carries a comprehensive range of our products and promotions.

Contact us for a free copy of our brochure.

January 2013 New Winter Catalogue is now available!

We now offer a comprehensive range of quality Clifton Water Baths and Centrifuges at market beating prices. • We have been working in partnership with UK based Philip Harris Manufacturing (Weston) and have developed a range of high quality microscope slide sets at highly competitive prices.

We continue to expand our range of Ovens and Incubators from JIM engineering in the UK and can now offer an even bigger range of Ovens and Incubators at a compatible specification to GENLAB, but at discounted prices and with fast delivery times! Please look out for our new range of Combination Oven/Incubators.

We have recently switched to a new UK based “Pure Chemicals” supplier, to enable us to expand our range going forward but to also ensure we can deliver orders to our customers quickly. We will continue to strive to despatch orders within 48 hours of order receipt.

Please look out for our extensive Opti-Lab and Euromex Microscope ranges. These Microscopes offer a great mix of functionality and affordability.

Contact us for a free copy of our brochure.