The University of Bristol's PGCE Science course prepares you to teach Science across the curriculum to GCSE level.
Your subject expertise in your degree discipline will be a strength within this, and you will specialize in your chosen Science for post-16 teaching.
To develop the skills needed for teaching balanced Science you will work mainly in small groups, discussing the aims of Science education and how to plan lessons that embody your learning objectives.
You will have to consider how the needs of children of all abilities can be met and the value of visual aids, computer programs, experimental work, including investigations, and written exercises.
You will also have the opportunity to study and carry out practical work in Science in those areas where you may feel less experienced such as radioactivity, using microscopes or demonstrating the properties of alkali metals.
In addition, you will be expected to consider how pupils' progress in Science can be assessed, how laboratory work can be made safe for pupils, how learning in Science can reach all pupils, and other such issues. We will consider new developments in Science education, including Getting Practical and Assessing Pupils' Progress.
In an exciting new development, the practical Science elements of the course are based in new facilities in the Graduate School of Education and at Explore@Bristol, where the new Science Learning Centre (South West) has been established.
Both venues have up-to-date school laboratories and excellent technical support. Explore@Bristol itself is an internationally renowned hands-on Science Centre in Bristol, just a short walk from the Graduate School.
During laboratory-based work there, you will have access to the relevant sections of Explore@Bristol, including the public display areas. Non-laboratory based work takes place at the Graduate School.
Biology is a subject with a wide appeal to all ages and abilities. Enthusiasm and a willingness to try out new techniques are as important as academic expertise.
Candidates are expected to have a sound background in the Physical Sciences to at least GCSE level or its equivalent and preferably to 'A' level.
Candidates with industrial or commercial experience, or with experience of working with young people, are particularly encouraged to apply.
The Biology programme is based on practical experience. In addition to spending time in schools, you will have laboratory-based sessions that will enable you to look at both well-established and new approaches to Biology.
Trends in Applied Biology such as biotechnology and tackling difficult ethical issues in Biology are given particular emphasis, and there are opportunities for field work.
The Chemistry component of your studies in Science education is designed to look in-depth at issues of teaching and learning of Chemistry in secondary schools.
The course will provide opportunities to investigate the curricular, pedagogical and practical aspects of Chemistry including hands-on activities designed to improve Chemistry learning.
There will be a focus on concepts that progress from the introduction of a particles model of matter early in the secondary school curriculum towards a later understanding of structure and bonding. Representational conventions such as equations are also important for scaffolding the learning of pupils and are therefore given attention in your training.
We will draw on a variety of sources including both Nuffield Chemistry and Salters' Science especially when we group as subject specialists to consider post-16 teaching.
For the majority of pupils, Chemistry is but a part of a broad and balanced education for life. Some students, however, will develop their chemistry knowledge in their post-16 studies and beyond. We will be discussing ways of making our Chemistry teaching inclusive and effective for all.
Applications are particularly invited from people with industrial experience and professional qualifications in Chemistry.
The Physics programme has a strong bias in favour of practical experience. Work both in the university and in partner schools will give experience of a variety of courses at GCSE and A-level, both academic and applied, and using computers in schools.
We will also introduce you to ways of presenting your work and arranging your laboratory so that you become able to manage a wide range of students as a 'friendly enabler' rather than a 'formal teacher'.
In addition to students with degrees in Physics, those with Physics-related degrees, such as Engineering are invited to apply.
In 2011, you will be given an opportunity to take part in a project called E-scapes which will train them in using multimedia techniques (such as film-making) to enable students in schools to make e-learning resources. This project is sponsored by Hewlett Packard as part of their Pedagogy 3.0 initiative. Further information can be obtained from Neil Ingram.
Eric has taught 11-18 Science full time for 32 years. He was Head of Science in a large South Wales comprehensive from the introduction of the National Curriculum and was responsible for the implementation of changes to the curriculum and for performance. For a number of years Eric was an Associate Tutor with the Bristol partnership. He has had considerable experience as an examiner at A /AS Biology with various boards - OCR, AQA (previously AEB), Oxford Modular, and GCSE examining for Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences and Modular Science. Eric is a former member of the Curriculum Council of Wales Science steering committee.
Neil has taught Biology, Psychology and ICT in a range of secondary schools, most recently at Clifton College, Bristol where he was Head of Science. He is the author and co-author of a number of important textbooks for secondary Biology teaching, often in collaboration with the Nuffield Curriculum Trust. He joined the Graduate School in September 2008 as the senior biologist on the Science PGCE course. He is currently coordinating this course with an intake of 52 students.
Jon is new to the science education team and comes straight from the classroom where he had the post of excellent teacher at Wyvern Community School in Weston-Super-Mare. His teaching experience is broad and includes a spell as a head of science and working in Colombia in the 1990s, then the most dangerous country in the world! He has also carried out Local Authority advisory work, first as part of the science advisory team in Oxfordshire and then as teaching and learning advisor with North Somerset. He is a chemistry examiner for the International Baccalaureate. Completing the M.Sc in Science & Education at Bristol whetted his appetite for research and he is particularly interested in the area of literacy and its impact on science education.
Jocelyn first became a PGCE Science tutor in Leicestershire in 1996. She taught both PGCE Science (Physics) and PGCE ICT at Loughborough University. Prior to that she taught Science, Psychology and ICT in secondary schools in Bristol and Southampton.
Jocelyn has been involved in research into the use of computers in teaching and learning since the days of the BBC micro. Her most recent research project has been in evaluating the use of online role-play to teach safety on the Internet.
Joie is the Science technician. She was formerly Chief technician at Red Maids School and before that had a number of technical posts in education and industry. She will be working both at the Graduate School of Education and the Science Learning Centre South West at Explore@Bristol.
