Solve Your Senior Science Syllabus Stress
As the Australian Curriculum moves into version 8.3 and ACARA continues to work with stakeholders to develop processes, options and timelines for Senior Secondary subjects, it can feel like the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet. How do you ensure your Senior Secondary Science subjects align with the F-10 knowledge, skills and understandings? How do you shift from teaching facts to exploring concepts? What would you give to know the details that could ensure the success of your students and guide you on that path to success? Well, read on for an insider tip on making your students into successful scientists.
ACARA’s development of the new Senior Secondary Science subjects and the shifts in focus that it embodies are not a complete surprise.. Both scientific and political experts have been looking at the problems facing Australia in the development of science in the twenty-first century. From 1992 to 2012 there has been a steady decline in the participation of students in Stage 6 Science courses. Biology has experienced the most significant decline from 35.3% to 24%, Chemistry has slipped from 22.9% to 17.2% and Physics is attracting only 14.2% of students compared to the previous 20.8% of the cohort. It seems that as we moved into the new millennium, everyone saw the value of Science to the globe and the economy, except the students.
The decline was attributed by some to the increased range of Year 12 courses (Lyons and Quinn, 2010) and this seems reasonable, particularly when Science itself saw an increase in the range of subjects offered. However, what is more disturbing is the finding that student responses indicated a decline in the “Perceived utility value” of physics and chemistry (Office of the Chief Scientist, 2012, pg 53). It seems that in the age of the Hadron Collider and Breaking Bad, students could no longer see a use for science in the real world.