‘I do and I understand?’
Practical work and laboratory use in
United Kingdom schools

Rob Toplis; Michael Allen

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools

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Rob Toplis ¹ ^* , Michael Allen ¹

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¹ Brunel University, Uxbridge, UNITED KINGDOM^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This paper provides a critical review of the changes to the role of practical work in the science curriculum in England over the last forty years. The science curriculum over this period appears to place an emphasis on an approach to practical enquiry that suggests school students can act like ‘real’ scientists. This paper provides a critical perspective of this view as it traces the developments of practical work and draws on the literature and on empirical work about how practical science in the secondary school (ages 11 to 18 years) has been enacted over this time period and gives some suggestions about the current situation and how practical work might develop in the future.

Keywords

history of science education
practical work
scientific inquiry

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2012, Volume 8, Issue 1, 3-9

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

Publication date: 12 Jan 2012

Article Views: 3693

Article Downloads: 2745

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How to cite this article

APA

Toplis, R., & Allen, M. (2012). ‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 8(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

Vancouver

Toplis R, Allen M. ‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2012;8(1):3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

AMA

Toplis R, Allen M. ‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2012;8(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

Chicago

Toplis, Rob, and Michael Allen. "‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2012 8 no. 1 (2012): 3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

Harvard

Toplis, R., and Allen, M. (2012). ‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 8(1), pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a

MLA

Toplis, Rob et al. "‘I do and I understand?’ Practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 8, no. 1, 2012, pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.812a