Teaching Secondary Science: Constructing Meaning and Developing Understanding

This text provides a new approach to science teaching for student teachers, newly qualified and established science teachers wishing to re-examine their practice. The authors take full account of the new orders for the ITT national curriculum in science and ICT and address the need for all new teachers to meet the four standards required for NQT status, including scientific subject-knowledge. The book acknowledges the need for teachers to teach and learners to be given time to reconstruct this meaning for themselves. The importance of practical work is maintained but a rethinking of its place and purpose is proposed. Other issues confronting science teachers are addressed, including safety and assessment.