Using the news media
Few days go by without a science story that has global implications featuring in the news media. There are many ways of exploiting these stories to both fulfil curriculum objectives and highlight the global dimension in science. Here are some suggestions. You can doubtless think of many more!
- When an appropriate science story comes up in the news, mention it in lessons. Perhaps, if there is time, have a brief discussion about it, focusing on both the global dimension and curriculum objectives. If the story concerns an area of the curriculum that a class is not currently studying, it may provide a good opportunity for revision or to introduce a new area of science.
- Create a display of 'science in the news'. Ask pupils to collect newspaper articles or printouts from the internet to add to it, focusing on those with a global dimension. Refer to articles in the display at appropriate junctures.
- Occasionally, for homework, ask students to find an interesting science story in the news media and re-write it for a younger audience.
The Activity that follows is an opportunity to create a global science activity based on a science news story.
Once you have completed the final activity, we hope that having identified, examined, tried out, evaluated and devised the strategies and activities described in this unit, you and your department will now have the skills and confidence to deliver the global dimension of the science curriculum with enthusiasm.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
- Find a science news story that has global connotations. Some good places to look are the following websites:
ASE Global links to a wide variety of relevant articles. ASE Global Dimension New Scientist magazine BBC website The quality newspapers (for example, The Guardian) are also good sources. www.guardian.co.uk The tabloids - including the free Metro - are well worth looking at. They have low reading ages and a surprising number of science stories. - In collaboration with a colleague, devise a KS3 (pupils aged 11-14) activity based on the news story. Include specific curriculum objectives and decide which global dimension criteria your activity will meet. For inspiration, look again at the activities that accompany the Activity on page 3 of this unit, and those highlighted in the other units of this course.
- Try out the activity with a class. Evaluate the extent to which the curriculum objectives and the global dimension criteria have been met. Consider ways of modifying the activity to better meet the objectives and criteria.
If you are satisfied that the activity (in either its original or modified version) meets the objectives and criteria sufficiently, consider including it in the appropriate scheme of work.
