Steven Chick is young student who is about to start a degree in Physics
I’ll be starting University in September to do a Physics 4-year degree, with the aim to go on and do a postgrad. This of course means that I’ve had recent experience of both the last syllabus of GCSEs and of A-Levels. Both of these syllabi are meant to be harder than the new-in ones.
I have to say that as a more able student, I found science GCSEs really quite boring. I frequently stopped listening, and even taking notes because I simply already knew it, could work it out from the questions on the worksheets, or even the topic wasn’t even relevant to the subject! I found everything except the “REALLY hard” bits completely unstimulating.
In my opinion, the problem with science GCSEs is that they simply dont make the student think. English made me think, History made me think, Maths made me think. I got an A in each science without even trying.
Many of the other commentators are correct: “in an attempt to please everyone… they please no-one” being just one example.
I have two major suggestions now, and both of them are fairly radical.
1) That the foundation tier focus further on the Scientific Method, with its applications in the particular areas for each separate field. Furthermore, the Higher tier should in addition focus on the details and mathematics of each field: equations of motion, chemical reactions, population density; that kind of thing.
2) That real effort is made to engage students in discoveing the wonders of science and its uses. I suggest that popular science books are introduced to help engage pupils, and that students are introduced to characters like Feynman, Millikan, Hawking, Penrose, et al.
Students need inspiration - a reason to learn! My inspiration has been reading books by Richard P Feynman - a true marvel - and it’s driven my passion for Physics more than anything I’ve ever seen in the classroom.
More people need to be inspired.