'Teaching and assessing practical skills in Science’

Practical work is an essential part of science education. To understand the purpose and to maximise the effectiveness of practical work a professional development workshop was conducted by Head of Faculty of Sciences Ms. Molly Biju for CIE and MYP teachers on June 26, 2014. The topic covered was ‘Teaching and assessing practical skills in science’. The teachers brainstormed and discussed the different types of practical work and how practical work in science helps in practising skills, developing specific knowledge and understanding the process of scientific enquiry.

As every learning process ends with an assessment, the role of criteria based assessment was discussed. Teachers were also trained about how to guide the students with respect to their understanding of the processes of scientific enquiry. The session ended with an experiment in Observation ‘A Burning Candle’ in which teachers explored the difference between a casual observation and expert observation. Skills on guiding students to conduct expert observation were also the focus of the workshop.