Assessing practicals for student progress and lower teacher work load

The presentation began by considering why we carry out practical and how we maximise its impact with discussion. Links to research on purpose from EEF highlight the evidence of impact on engagement, the importance of purpose, development of scientific reasoning skills and the value of open-ended research projects on skills development, attitudes and attainment. Impact is maximised by knowing the purpose of each activity, sequencing with other learning, developing scientific reasoning and using a variety of approaches.

Practical work in the National Curriculum was considered, highlighting that questioning and observation begins in Key Stage 1 and by Upper Key Stage 2 students should be recognising variables and considering accuracy and precision, as well as relationships etc. In other words, there is a strong grounding in Key Stage 2 to build on in Key Stage 3 and into GCSE.

The Practical Endorsement at Key Stage 5 was considered as a model for minimising work load while ensuring assessment of skills, contemporaneously where possible.

Trackers were discussed, including those that exist for Key Stage 2 but with less common approaches seen at Key Stage 3 or 4. There was discussion around what would help, assessing with a purpose and not just for the sake of a record and using questioning to assess effectively. Cambridge OCR’s new Purposeful Practical resources contain questioning that can be used by teachers for this purpose. The importance of supporting ECTs and non-specialists in this way was discussed.

Support for inclusive practical work was discussed. Integrated worksheets were highlighted and are now included in Purposeful Practicals. The use of bookmarks for scaffolding in investigative work was also highlighted as a possible way of supporting and challenging all learners. A blog on making practical work accessible for SEND was discussed, as well as observations that practical work can often be adapted for pupils alongside normal ways of working.