Writing new schemes is awesome

Yesterday, my minions colleagues and I worked on the new scheme for junior science. There was nothing particularly wrong with the old scheme, it was just... boring. And very, very content-driven. It was all about the content.

So we wanted to do something different. We spent nearly all day working on an integrated scheme, and we've come up with the first stages of something that I think will not only be more interesting and engaging for students, but will also lend itself more readily to inquiry learning, will be rich in ICT opportunities, and will emphasise big concepts and information gathering and processing skills.

So... our eight (one for each term over the two years) big themes/concepts are:

1. Gross! A Y9 unit on just that, things that are gross or funny or icky. In this unit, we'll cover things like microbes and decomposition, the particle nature of matter (and how smell gets to your nose), goo and other sticky, ooky things, and anything else we can think of.

2. It's all about me. Another Y9 unit, this one using the students' own self as a focus. As well as all the adorable human biology and genetics we'll get to do, this is also going to have a social focus. We might consider things like tattoos and the inks used in them, or how to make lip balm.

3. In the home. This Y9 unit is all about what we find around us. I have left this with minion one to be finished, since it was her baby

4. Pretty. Obviously not the final name, this unit is about all the reasons why science makes us catch our breath, and all the ways that science and art collide. We'll look at natural landscape features, astronomy, adaptations in plants and animals, light and sound. It's going to be awesome. Can you tell that this one was my idea?

5. Amazing Race. This one came from my desire that students learn a little bit about the world outside. We have about 15 locations and students complete science activities in groups about each location in order to move along through their race. There will be a prize for the group that gets through the most locations. This will involve things like investigations into acid rain and the effect is has on old buildings (like Hagia Sophia in Turkey), or graphing smog count in Mexico City. Minions one and two and I are going to make a little series of videos to show each week, chronicling our (fictitious) progress through the race.

6. Time. This one looks at geological processes, archaeology, changing scientific models over time, and future predictions.

7. Engineering. We need a catchier title, but the key to this one is the ways that science shapes the world and the world shapes science. We'll look at lots of physics - forces, in particular - but also some genetics and some chemistry. There is lots of scope here!

8. Forensics. We're looking at shaping this one along the same lines as the Amazing Race, so students must take small steps towards solving a crime. We might take a lesson at the start of the unit to make badges or something, just for fun. Forensics is an awesome topic, full of integrated science already. We're going to have so much fun with it.

So. Life is looking good. I'll be uploading the first installment of our Amazing Race (Three Mismatched Teachers Edition) just as soon as we record the first episode.