The Great Skills Improvers are based on the original ‘Smart Science’ resource (Bianchi & Barnett, 2006) that spearheaded a way of developing young people’s Personal Capabilities. This aims to be the first in a series of skills improvers that are part of the Great Guided Enquiries.
A Great Skills Improver is designed to include:
• a generic task to teach young people about a specific personal capability objective as a stand-alone activity
• a science embedded task in which the personal capability is developed and exemplified in a science investigation or enquiry.
The Great Skills Improvers recognise the human side of scientists and the fact that we are all people with areas of strength and development. By focusing on personal skills, we develop self-awareness and explore what it means to be effective in the way we work as scientists with others.
Age: 7-11, 11-14 years
Curriculum topics: personal capabilities, computing
Cross-curricular: oracy, computing, maths, PSHE.
Can machines think?
Pupils:
understand the difference between cooperation and collaboration
recognise that people from many different cultures help to learn about our world together.
This Great Skills Improver includes:
a generic task to teach pupils about working as a team in a stand-alone activity
a science embedded task that focuses on the work of leading scientist, Alan Turing, as pupils work together to discuss his key question, 'Can machines think?'
If…Then…?
Pupils:
understand scientists apply what they know to inform decisions and solve problems related to local and global challenges
understand that scientists make inferences, are curious and imagine possibilities
understand scientists make observations and collect, analyse and interpret data to test their ideas.
This Great Skills Improver includes:
a generic task to teach pupils about creativity and problem-solving
a science embedded task linked to the work of GCHQ, where pupils work together to explore systems thinking and ‘if… then…’ scenarios related to energy and the impact of an electricity outage.
GCHQ is a special organisation in the United Kingdom that helps keep our country safe.
They help protect important information, stop computer problems caused by hackers, and share important clues (called intelligence) to help keep people safe.
Other countries have their own groups that do the same kind of work to protect people from serious crimes and cyber-attacks. Find out more at https.gchq.gov.uk
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