I popped into the recording of Emma’s Focus on Science class last week and yet again marvelled at how Emma is the only Science teacher I have ever met that was able to make me a) interested in Science and b) understand Science! I am going to talk you through the lesson as I experienced it, to give you a bit more of an “insiders view” of what to expect in Emma’s Science lessons.
Focus on Science is one of our range of Key Stage 3 classes called “Focus on…” which are the classes that children need to take before they are ready for the GCSE/IGCSE or Functional Skills classes. Emma has been with LLP since really early on and she still continues to deliver exceptional lessons.
She started the lesson with really clear instructions but also letting the children know that for the experiment part of the lesson, they didn’t need to worry if they didn’t have the exact requirements as they would still be able to do the experiment with a wide range of different things. I thought this was a lovely start, as she was immediately as she was immediately reducing any potential anxiety and setting up the whole lesson as a super inclusive experience.
She moved quickly onto a scavenger hunt where the students could either go and grab stuff or just think about what would fulfil the criteria of
A pure substance
A formulation related to personal hygience
The most useful pure substance in their house
The most useful formulation in their house
While the students were coming and going with their items or typing their ideas into chat or onto the screen, Emma explained the scientific definitions, asking the children to think and explain in their own words (in chat or out loud if they were happy to) why they had chosen their items and how they fitted the criteria. It was lovely to see such a learning buzz with so many of the teenagers actively taking part in their own way with the learning – they were seriously focused!
Emma was really supportive of their answers, responding to each of them individually with genuine interest and enthusiasm, and stretching their understanding with her feedback.
The hands on experiment part of the lesson was great as all the children were able to access it if they wanted to and were encouraged to do their own thing and test their own hypothesis. Certainly not how I remember Science lessons at school where we all did the exact same experiments!
At the end of the lesson, Emma showed a series of questions with a multiple choice of answers. The questions were related to what the children had been learning and the children got rather enthusiastic with the annotate screen tool (until Emma very nicely reminded them that they only needed to draw their circle once!) From a teaching point of view, I could see that Emma was reinforcing knowledge but also checking to see how much the students had understood (which was a lot!)
I spoke with Emma after the lesson to see what she had to say about the Focus on Science classes. Her comment is below. If your children take part in this class or any of Emma’s classes, feel free to comment below and share your experience.
“Focus on Science is always such a fun lesson to teach and I see so much progress in how the children understand the Science but also it is lovely to see them having fun and being creative. It is really rewarding to teach my lessons!”
Emma