This site is for everyone helping to develop the next generation of science teachers - tutors, mentors, researchers, and teachers too. Please contribute and help the site to grow.
This resource provides support for tutors and mentors working with primary and secondary teachers at the start of their careers - thus for everyone helping to develop the next generation of science teachers - tutors, mentors, researchers, and teachers too.
Previously, Sci-Tutors was hosted on an independent URL. However, Sci-Tutors has now been incorporated into the ASE Site and all the resources have been moved here. The tabs on the left and subsequent sub-tabs, as well as the links below, will help you find ideas that can be adapted for sessions with your students, including:
Professional issues
These are often covered in ITT courses at a general cross-curriculum level, either by professional studies tutors centrally, or by 'training managers' in school. However most of these issues need to be covered by science tutors to look at the specific requirements relating to teaching science. Again much of this will be covered in school by the 'subject mentor' or class teacher, but there is plenty, too, that can be usefully covered in central sessions by the science tutor.
The Professional Issues tab above leads to support material and ideas for running sessions that can be used with trainee teachers.
Within each unit you will find links to other support materials, such as the National Strategies for science. You will also find that issues are related generically across the ages ranges, but where issues apply to a limited range of Key stages (or to the foundation stage) this will be indicated.
Subject Knowledge
All of us, trainees and tutors alike, will have our weak areas of subject knowledge and primary trainees may have little beyond their 'C' in GCSE required for entry to teacher training.
This section of the website suggests how trainees' subject knowledge can be strengthened during their teacher training year(s). It also deals with ideas about how to support trainees as they teach the topic and provides suggestions for running sessions.
The Knowledge tab above leads you to a range of resources to support subject understanding appropriate for each key stage, either helping trainees with their personal understanding or giving them ideas for teaching the topic.
The General ideas (K0) section provides background ideas regarding the nature of science learning and some critical issues regarding the engagement of students and teachers in this learning.
Course Structure
The science component is only a part of the full ITT provision and so many or most of these issues will be decided on a whole-course level. This is particularly so with primary courses. However there are implications for science tutors in the way courses are structured, and this section explores some of these.
Research
This section provides information about research in science education. It helps in getting your own research started both in terms of higher degrees and sources of funding, and gives advice on helping students with their research.
A new section has recently been added where researchers in science education relate their own personal stories of how they becaome involved and they give advice to new-comers.
The Forum
Please use the Forum to make comments and suggestions on how we can improve the site, and to offer material that we can include. We hope that this will become a place where you will find it useful to discuss issues and share ideas with colleagues.
The Association of Tutors in Science Education (ATSE)
Summer Conference 2012
"Professional Development in Science Education"
20th-22th August (Monday lunch to Wednesday Lunch)
To be held at ASE HQ Hatfield, Herts
This is a call for papers on the conference theme (though other presentations will be considered).
There will also be up to 10 free places for new tutors to science teacher education. If you know of anyone entering science teacher education,
Contact Farhana Zaman at farru@aol.com
Free places for New Science Ed Tutors!
There are free places for new science education tutors. Funding is available (to cover conference costs and accommodation, but NOT travel to the conference), to new appointees from the past year who have not been to an ATSE Conference previously.
Places are limited - please contact Faarhana Zaman above together with details of institution, appointment and date. If you have new tutors joining you, please encourage them to attend!
Evaluation of the conference by the new tutors who attended last year at Cumbria, and previous years, can be read in the forum (you need to register/log-in to the ASE website to read and participate in the forum):
Link to New tutors' evaluation of the conference
Forum
We have now merged the scitutors foruminto the new ATSE (teacher education) group forum on the new ASE website, link above.
Hubble fun
We have added a link to the revamped Hubble telescope in the section on The Earth and Beyond to celebrate the completion of the upgraded telescope.
The Scitutors site - contributions welcome
The site has been redesigned to make it much more flexible in use and, although it may not look much different from the outside it has become much simpler to edit and add material. Hopefully users of the site will be prepared to let editors know of errors they find and suggest additional content or references or resources. A particularly powerful way of sharing your ideas and supporting others is to supply additional 'download materials' that you have prepared or that are used on your courses. (Please ensure that there are no copyright issues to be resolved). Please contact Alan Goodwin (alangoodwinuk@yahoo.co.uk) or Keith Ross (keithaross@googlemail.com) with any constructive comments and/or suggestions you may have.
Education Subject Centre: advancing learning and teaching in education. (ESCalate): Valuable and professionally relevant material is also here: http://escalate.ac.uk/3662 although this site does not have a specific science education focus.