Within all subjects I need to apply my knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
Within Science we use data that we collate to determine the quality of water. We have to collect each group’s data, combine them and average, and then compare our findings to standards set by the Department to determine the quality of our water. This is through our Water Watch program.
This allows all students to work with numbers and operations in a fun and meaningful way. This also allows me to group students so that I can help them with their numeracy skills.
Here are some images of students down at Purtinga Creek collecting their water samples for testing:
Students are also exposed to numeracy in Geography where we teach them to interpret a range of graphs and maps used to represent different geographical data and information.
Students also often need scaffolded tasks to help them learn scientific vocabulary. I have included some flashcards that I have created to help them learn the meaning of scientific terms in Chemistry. This then allows students to use the words in written assignments or practical write ups. Knowing the vocabulary in the topic helps them to read information and understand what they are reading. This is a strategy I use to help develop scientific literacy.
Stephanie Rodert 