Exciting times for Year 9 Science
Further from a previous post detailing a new framework for our Year 9 programme, a colleague and I have started mapping out how a new, more futures focused, Year 9 Science programme might look. We are trying to find a balance between background disciplinary knowledge and allowing for the development student's capacity to create new knowledge and investigate the world's wicked problems and possible solutions. Key Competencies for the Future (Hipkins, Bolstad, Boyd and McDowell; NZCER 2014) has been an immense help for me as I work my way through the tension that exists between traditional science education which focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and future-oriented science learning, where we should use the Nature of Science learning outcomes to develop science thinking and literacy in an effort to have informed citizens. A part of the book that has resonated with me the most in this aspect is Chapter 3 p45-46 which describes assumptions about the mind, knowledge and