Teaching difficult content

Ensuring students know and understand the many fundamentals of science is one of the most challenging parts of being a science teacher. Many column inches are written about the knowledge versus skills debate, but in reality if students do not have a secure knowledge and understanding, they cannot think like a scientist.

When asking our students ‘what is hydrogen an example of?’ this will be a familiar response for many of us: ‘It’s an atom … uh … no it’s an element … uh … maybe it’s a compound’.

Without understanding the difference between atoms, elements, compounds and molecules, asking students to make predictions about reactions is pointless. As is trying to teach balancing equations to a student who doesn’t fully understand conservation of mass.

Scientists build on knowledge discovered by others to think creatively about new ideas, and our students need the same grounding to move forward in their own studies. Secondary school is where we must embed this foundation, but this doesn’t have to mean resorting to lecture-style chalk and talk.

Catrin Green suggests different methods of explaining new topics and building on these, and provides a list of lilighter ways to teach a knowledge-heavy curriculum.