New ideas, new topics, new teachers: using the OCR Delivery Science Guides

So here is the scenario, you have to deliver a topic you have not previously taught. You have a text book, a scheme of work and possibly some resources prepared by others at your centre. It is possible to deliver the package of information, but if the learning is to have impact then there needs to be dialogue - dialogue between you and your students, and essentially a dialogue with the topic being discussed.

You may be lucky enough to have colleagues around you with time to discuss the issues and give you the benefit of their experience, but in many cases teachers feel isolated and would welcome some support.

How can our Delivery Guides support you?

Our Delivery Guides for GCSE and GCE sciences were written by experienced teachers of each specification and topic.

The teachers wrote an overview of the content and identified how they would deliver the topic. They often reflect on the common misconceptions within each topic and identify useful contexts for the application of the knowledge.

Alongside this there are simple resources, lesson elements produced by us which can be integrated into a lesson plan, and links to external resources.

The idea of the Delivery Guide as a virtual helper for those training to teach, new to the profession or being given a topic which is unfamiliar to them originated at the ASE conference in January 2019.

I talked with groups of students preparing for a career in teaching through a variety of routes. They identified that they had specifications, lesson plans and text books, but wanted a broader view on the delivery of the content and being able to put the content into a context supporting the qualifications.

We looked at samples of the delivery guide such as:

Biology

• Communicable diseases, disease prevention and the immune system
• Transport in animals

Chemistry

• Intermolecular Bonding

Physics

• Kinematics and dynamics
• Medical Imaging

Students identified with the text and said that it was like having a helpful teacher on hand giving them confidence in their own judgements.

Comments from the experienced teachers in the delivery guides also made the students think around the topic and prompted their own ideas for linking the theory in contexts that they were personally familiar with.

So…

If you are about to deliver a new topic and would like some wider support than simply a scheme of work then click below to access the full range of delivery guides, we hope that the information and presentation will support you in delivering the topics in ways that benefit your students.

Explore our range of delivery guides.

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If you have any questions please submit your comments below or email them directly with your questions to science@ocr.org.uk.

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About the author

Neil Wade - Subject Specialist - Physics

Neil joined OCR in May 2014 having taught GCSE science and A Level physics for the previous 19 years. Neil has represented OCR on the cross-board working group for the Practical Endorsement, looking at its implementation both nationally for all boards and at the OCR approach to practical work in the new specifications.