#TE-04-20 Teaching Biology: Inspiring Students with Plant Science
About Course
National STEM Learning CentreDescription
Support the biology curriculum with plant science
Biology lessons provide opportunities to inspire students with practical examples of science. On this course, developed with specialists at Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS), you will learn how to use plants to teach biology and support secondary students’ learning.
You’ll improve your knowledge of plant science and learn how to incorporate it into the curriculum. You’ll be able to share examples of hinge-point questions to address student misconceptions. You’ll also explore how to help your students apply what they’ve learnt to new contexts and increase their engagement in the classroom.
Who will you learn with?
I taught science for ten years and was Head of Science for three years, before becoming a subject specialist at the National STEM Learning Centre.
I am a biology teacher with over thirty years of teaching experience. I have been an ambassador for Science and Plants for Schools for nine years, working with them to develop practical resources.
I manage the Science and Plants for Schools project and have worked in roles supporting science education for eight years. I specialised in plant sciences in my undergraduate degree.
Who developed the course?
The National STEM Learning Centre provides world-class professional development activities and resources to support the teaching of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
What Will I Learn?
- Modify your scheme of work to incorporate a greater variety of contexts using plants.
- Identify opportunities to challenge and address students' misconceptions in biology.
- Explore the use of plants for teaching key biological principles.
- Improve your subject knowledge in plant science.
- Collaborate with peers, educators and mentors to share and critique ideas for teaching practical science.
Topics for this course
Welcome to the course
Why use plants in science teaching?00:01:46
Developing your teaching
Health and safety
Under pressure! Why plants can’t survive without osmosis
Beyond potato chips
Adding context
This course shared some examples of key biological science issues with us to solve students’ misunderstandings about biological sciences. I will give my students a good course that they learn in class.
This course improved my understanding of biological sciences and learned how to incorporate it into the curriculum. I hope this will increase my students' interest in biology.
In this course, we explore together how to help students apply the knowledge they have learned to a new environment and increase their participation in the classroom. Very practical method, I will actually apply it in my own class, thank you.
This course is very authoritative. It was developed by experts from the School of Science and Botany (SAPS). In the course, I learned how to use plants for biology teaching and support middle school students. Very good course.
Material Includes
- Official Certificate
Tags
Target Audience
- This course is designed as professional development for science and biology teachers of 11-16 year olds. It will be useful to newly qualified (NQT), early career, returning, and non-specialist teachers, technicians, and teaching assistants (TA).
- It’s recommended that teachers have access to a school laboratory to evaluate approaches to practical work during this course.