(1993). Re-thinking Old Ways: Towards A More Critical Approach To Practical Work In School Science. Studies in Science Education: Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 85-142.

Re-thinking Old Ways: Towards A More Critical Approach To Practical Work In School Science

There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that when a caller expressed interest in seeing his laboratory, Cavendish ordered his butler to bring it in on a tray. That was two hundred years ago, and science laboratories have grown far beyond that, encompassing whole institutions. Even in schools they are commonly large, well‐equipped rooms, expensive to establish and maintain, served by specialist assistants. Despite the cost, laboratories are so embedded in the practice of science teaching it is difficult to imagine doing without them. Yet their purpose is not universally agreed, and evdence of their effect is equivocal.

The link between the laboratory and learning

(2006). The Student Voice and School Science Education. Studies in Science Education: Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 49-88.

The Student Voice and School Science Education

Many, both inside the science education community and beyond it, view practical work as an essential feature of science education. Questions have however been raised by some science educators about its effectiveness as a teaching and learning strategy. This study considers the effectiveness of practical work using the two-level model of effectiveness proposed by Millar et al. (1999) linked to Tiberghien's (2000) twodomains model of knowledge as an analytical framework. The study is based on twenty-five multi-site case studies and employs a condensed fieldwork strategy. Data was collected, using tape-recorded interviews and observational field notes, in a sample of practical lessons undertaken by pupils in English comprehensive schools during Key Stages 3 and 4. The findings suggest that whilst practical work is effective in getting pupils to do what is intended with physical objects it is relatively ineffective in getting them to think about their data using the intended scientific ideas. Nor is practical work usually designed to help pupils make links between observables and explanatory ideas. This suggests that the cognitive challenge of linking observables and ideas is largely unrecognised by teachers and those science educators who propose practical work. The findings also indicate that whilst practical work generates short-term engagement it is relatively ineffective in generating motivation to study science or longer-term personal interest, though it is often claimed to do so. This suggests that those involved with science education need to be better able to identify practical tasks which require pupils to make links between observables and ideas, and to structure such tasks to assist this kind of thinking and to recognise the limitations of practical work in the affective domain.

Between rhetoric and reality : the use and effectiveness of practical work in secondary school science

Practical Work and the Affective Domain: What Do We Know, What Should We Ask, and What is Worth Exploring Further?

An investigation into views of pupils about science practicals was undertaken. The pupils’ ideas were elicited through an ‘ethnographic’ style research programme using three different instruments: a questionnaire, a letter‐writing exercise and a drawing assignment. The results show that pupils consider science practical work to be useful only in the school context; they believe that their teachers’ ideas about practical work are similar to their own and reject certain cherished beliefs held by curriculum designers. The research raises a number of questions that could provide the basis of an agenda for an school evaluation of practical work in science.

Frank Chennell

Papers

Science practicals: what do pupils think?

Exploring Pupils’ Views and Feelings about their School Science Practicals: use of letter‐writing and drawing exercises