Martin Carr (Schools Liaison Officer) Department of Materials Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PH Tel Materials Science Workshops for Teachers and PGCE Students

What are we trying to do? Graduates What do we need? Undergrads Who are Graduates made from? Raise Awareness What must we do to recruit?Where are efforts most effective? School Who do we need to recruit?What do they need?When do they make choices? Interesting, challenging and accurate coursework Inspire them Right A’ Levels What do we need to do here? Sixth Form Key Stage 3 GCSE How can we do that?

Reaching out to schools Universities have a one-off contact with pupils. Teachers have daily contact. Key is to raise awareness of teachers as well as pupils, possibly as a priority. Do this by providing teachers with resources they will use.

Reaching out to Teachers To engage teachers, resources MUST be,,, –Relevant to the National Curriculum /syllabus. –Safe: to satisfy Health and safety. –Capable of being tailored to individual needs –Cut across the ability range. –Low cost: using existing equipment if possible. To encourage the use of resources we must… –Demonstrate their use. –Provide an opportunity for evaluation. –Allow for discussion, networking and support.

Teacher Workshop Satisfies the points just made, PLUS –Engages with teachers at an intellectual level. –Provides information beyond that required by pupils. –Gives teachers extension / illustrative material. By making the subject interesting and relevant to teachers, teachers will USE the resources repeatedly with different age groups.

Teachers and Student Teachers Teachers in schools are… –Too busy / have insufficient time. –Weary of new initiatives. –Unable to get time out of school to attend. Student teachers are none of these, plus… –Workshops can help with PGCE coursework. –Students’ work is seen by teacher mentors. –Opportunity for development and feedback exists based on Teaching Practice.

Workshops Include… Hands-on (trying out class experiments) –Experiments are explained with teaching tips. –Provides an opportunity for teachers to… Evaluate and adapt work to pupil needs / safety. Discuss ideas with other teachers. Academic talks related to curriculum issues. –Intellectual stimulation for the teachers. –Provides extension / illustrative material. –Can make science relevant to society.

Benefits of PGCE workshops Interaction with local teacher training department / college. Everyone benefits. Possibility of closer links with local schools. Possibility of running a workshop for PGCE student mentors. No additional costs (such as supply or travel) to either school or Department.