At last term’s NACE member meetup, hosted by The Science Museum, attendees shared tried-and-tested approaches to using questioning effectively to challenge all learners in science. Spanning all phases, and applicable across other subject areas, here are 10 ideas to try in your own classroom…

1. “Tinker time”

Rhian Roberts, Science Lead at Thomson House School, outlined the use of “tinker time” – time for learners to explore the question: “What do you know already?” As well as allowing teachers to assess current understanding and misconceptions to inform future planning, Rhian notes that this also allows pupils to take ownership of their learning, share knowledge with peers, and ask their own questions to move their learning forward.

A similar approach is used at Hydesville Tower School, where learners are prompted to list questions at the start of a new unit. Questions are then shared with peers for up-levelling using Bloom’s Taxonomy, and displayed to be addressed as the unit progresses. The impact, says Science Leader David Burnham, has included “increased ownership of learning, greater engagement, higher thought processes and a raised awareness of the broader scientific field.”

2. Question starters

At Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg, sentence stems are used to help learners develop increasingly challenging questions. For example, they might work as group to generate questions based on a photograph, using the following stems:

• Why do you think…?
• Can you explain why…?
• What evidence can you find…?
• Are there any other ways you could…?
• How successful was…?

Groups then swap questions and suggest answers to those posed by their peers. Dr Nia Griffiths, Head of Science, says this approach has led to higher engagement and longer-lasting focus on the task, as well as developing independent learning skills.

3. Solo exploration, double-up, present

At Invicta Grammar School, a three-stage process is used to answer a set of questions, shared out across the class. First, learners work independently on the questions they’ve been given, with support and resources available to develop a detailed response and identify potential discrepancies. They then pair up, collaborating to develop responses further. Finally, they present their work to the whole class, speaking as the “expert” on the questions they have investigated.

“Having worked on two sets of questions, students are doing almost twice as much work in the time available,” says Assistant Director of Science Charlotte McGivern. “They also develop skills to support one another, and the ability to articulate their answers fully.” She recommends jotting down prompters on post-it notes to share with learners during the first stage, helping them to fully explore each question.

4. “Phone a friend”

Peer support is also used at Bardfield Academy, where learners are encouraged to “phone a friend” to help them answer a question in more depth. Science Coordinator Heather Weston says this has meant learners feel more confident about asking for support, as well as providing opportunities for more able learners to share and develop their understanding by explaining difficult concepts to their peers.

To implement this effectively, Heather recommends encouraging learners to attempt to answer the question themselves first, using the “phone” option as a secondary measure to add depth and detail. She also suggests discussing the approach with more able learners separately to ensure they are ready and willing to be the “friend” at the end of the line.

5. Pose, pause, pounce, bounce

This four-stage approach to questioning was shared by Louise Mayhook, a member of the science department at The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College. First, pose a question to the class. Next: pause. Ask students to think, think again, write down and refine their response. Once the tension has mounted… pounce! Choose a student to share his/her answer and pause again to allow time for this. Finally, bounce: ask another student to comment on the first response.

Louise explains that this strategy embeds the effective use of thinking time, encourages learners to make notes (freeing up working memory), extends thinking, and challenges learners to listen closely to peers in order to build upon others’ ideas and develop a shared response.

6. Bouncing questions

Returning to Invicta Grammar School, here again questions are “bounced” from learner to learner – starting with a fairly simple question, and moving up through increasing levels of challenge towards synoptic questions that link with other areas of study. Biology teacher Hannah Gorski explains that this approach helps to build confidence and teamwork, while allowing the more able to develop and verbally consolidate their understanding of challenging concepts and links between them.

In a similar approach, Burton Borough School also “bounces” questions around the class. This time, learners prepare their own questions to ask peers. The first student chooses another to respond, who answers and in turn chooses the next. The school’s Jeremy Price notes that this approach has supported the development of strong subject knowledge and enjoyment, with learners motivated to come up with challenging questions for their classmates.

7. What happened first?

At Charterhouse Square School, learners are challenged to identify the correct order of events in science-related timelines. Given a set of milestone scientific achievements, discoveries and inventions, learners discuss their ideas about which happened first, providing arguments to back up their chronology. For an example of this, the school’s Amie Dickinson recommends the electrical inventions timeline game available via The Ogden Trust website.

In a similar vein, Science Coordinator Damian Cook shared an example from Oliver House School in which learners are challenged to analyse the elements of a food chain, answering the following questions:

• Why do you think this animal has been so successful at being at the top of the chain?
• What would it take for this animal to lose its position at the top?
  

For an additional challenge, learners are asked to consider which animal the top predator had evolved from, providing evidence to support their answer. Damian notes that once learners become accustomed to this approach, “they start to think like scientists and stretch their minds, which benefits their other studies – I hope!”

8. Visual prompts

The use of visual prompts alongside challenging questioning was a recurrent theme at the meetup. Shona Butler, Science Lead at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, shared the Explorify website as a useful source of engaging images and videos to prompt questions and discussion. She says this approach has helped learners develop confidence in considering a range of ideas, explaining their ideas and justifying their responses.

The Basildon Academies’ Michael Frempong and Hayley Richards – Heads of Science for the Lower and Upper Academies respectively – also advocated the use of pictures or objects to stimulate thinking and discussion. They noted that this allows all learners to contribute, while providing ample scope for learners to ask their own questions – of the objects, the teacher and each other.

9. “Fact first” questioning

To challenge learners to think in more depth about a subject, Drapers’ Academy’s Luxy Thanabalasingham shared the “fact first” approach – starting by giving learners a fact and challenging them to investigate further by generating “how” and “why” questions. Learners may work independently or in pairs, progressing to share their questions and ideas with the wider group. This is an effective way to move on from simple factual questions, Luxy says, encouraging learners to develop their higher-order thinking skills.

10. Write your own exam question

Finally, Weston Favell Academy’s Charlotte Heffernan shared her use of an activity in which learners are challenged to create their own exam questions and accompanying mark schemes. To get started, she suggests providing an answer and asking learners to suggest the question, or providing a question and asking learners to create the mark scheme.

Learners could also be challenged to create questions appropriate for different ability levels, considering what the examiner would be looking for and how key skills and knowledge could be assessed. This approach allows for self-differentiation, Charlotte notes, and has improved learners’ independence in answering questions.

Member resources

• Webinar: Effective questioning in science
• Webinar: Science capital: putting the research into practice
• NACE Essentials: Realising the potential of more able learners in GCSE science
• NACE Essentials: Using SOLO Taxonomy to increase challenge in the classroom
  

To access these resources, log in to our members’ site.

Physicist Dr Jess Wade made headlines this summer for her campaign to get a copy of Angela Saini’s book Inferior into every UK school. The campaign aims to help schools break down gender stereotypes, challenging and supporting all young people to develop their abilities in all fields and to choose from a full breadth of career options. In this blog post for the NACE community, Dr Wade explains what motivated her to launch the campaign, and suggests six steps all schools can take to reduce gender bias.

This is a big year: 2018 marks 100 years since (some) women got the vote and 70 years since women could graduate from the University of Cambridge. For completeness: it is almost 200 years since the majority of men could vote and 809 years since they could graduate from Cambridge.

In many ways, we have come a long way since Charles Darwin wrote “the average of mental power in a man must be above that of a woman” in The Descent of Man (1881). But gender bias and stereotypes still impact young people’s self-confidence and subject choices, which is limiting their career opportunities and damaging the UK economy.

Despite boys and girls doing equally well at physics GCSE, girls only make up 22% of the physics A-level cohort (and this is the highest it has been for almost 10 years). The Institute of Physics (IOP) has been researching this for decades. In 2012 it found that more half of state-maintained secondary schools had no girls in their physics A-level classes and in 2013 that schools which had the fewest girls in physics A-level also had the fewest boys in psychology.

The Opening Doors report, published in 2015 by the IOP and the Government Equalities Office, offers teachers guidance and support in their efforts toward gender equality. In 2016, the Improving Gender Balance project recommended whole-school interventions to stop gender inequities in A-level choice, recognising that a school-wide approach is needed to make a difference.

The Inferior campaign

Last year Angela Saini published Inferior: The True Power of Women and the Science that Shows It. The book is a powerful collection of evidence that challenges the notion of differences between men and women. From parallel parking to an innate ability in maths, the science behind stereotypes is often dodgy and experiments are rarely reproducible.

Reading Inferior changed my life. It armed me with the facts to take on even the fiercest of naysayers and inspired me to speak up and fight harder. I’ve been taking it with me ever since – to every conference and every new research lab – and when I see someone impressive speak I give them a copy. Inferior has been so well received by the scientific community that last year Saini did a tour of UK universities, filling lecture theatres with passionate students and academics.

In mid-July I realised we should get Inferior into schools, so I set up a crowdfunding campaign with my friend Dr Claire Murray, hoping to get it into every all-girls state school in the country. We reached that goal in less than 24 hours, so raised the bar even higher: every state school in Britain.

Thanks to Saini’s epic publishers (4th Estate), who agreed to match any funds we raised and manage distribution, it took less than 12 days for 800 people to donate enough money. At some stage over the next academic year, Inferior will be finding its way to your school library. Instead of just telling young people about stereotypes, we want them to read about the science, history, individuals and societies behind such stereotypes for themselves. I want them to get as excited as I am about challenging bias, and as motivated as I am for a fairer future.

6 changes all schools can make now

When you receive your copy of Inferior, I hope you use it as the stimulus for discussion with young people, and to plan activities within and beyond the classroom. A bunch of people who donated to the campaign didn’t want to just stop there; together we are creating a set of resources to help teachers make effective use of Inferior (sign up to help out here).

In the meantime, here are six changes you can make straight away:

1. Stop using sexist and gendered language

Whether it is “we need a couple of strong boys” or “you girls will be good at this creative part”, such sentences stick around in young people’s consciousness and affect their perception of themselves and others.

2. Collect data

Compare your school to national averages and identify areas for concern – then act on them.

3. Build careers guidance into lessons

Make sure it is up-to-date and gender neutral. If you’re keen on using “role models”, plan this carefully; try to make their relationship with the school more long-term and invite parents along. A lot of early-career scientists and engineers hang out on Twitter – find us there!

4. Stop saying subjects are “hard”

Some people find art impossible and some can’t add up the tab at a bar – and that’s ok. Teachers are incredibly influential and their biases can have a profound impact on young people’s perceptions. Instead of characterising certain fields as inherently difficult or referring to natural talent, talk about each individual working to the best of his/her ability.

5. Acknowledge unconscious bias

Teachers need to be aware of how they might inadvertently send gendered views to their students. Schools can support this through formal training, by signposting resources such as online tests designed to highlight unconscious bias, and by establishing a norm of acknowledging and discussing these issues.

6. Don’t try and do it all by yourselves

Get students and parents involved too. Discuss gendered aspirations at parents’ evenings. Get students to read Inferior and discuss ways to change school culture so that it is more equal for everyone.

For a more comprehensive list, read the IOP’s Opening Doors report.

Finally, remember you are NOT alone. 800 people raised £22,000 in less than two weeks to get Inferior into your classrooms. Read, share, discuss, and make a difference!

Dr Jess Wade is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics at Imperial College London. She is a member of the WISE Young Women’s Board and the WES Council, founder of Women in Physics at Imperial, and has worked with teachers across the country through the Stimulating Physics Network. Her significant work in public engagement and school outreach has been widely recognised, recently through the Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize. She tweets @jesswade.