1. Core Skills (Communication) and
the Science curriculum
Mark Hetherington
Senior Lecturer, Communication and
English
Stevenson College, Edinburgh, Scotland
2. Structure
• SUSSOL as a vehicle to deliver
communications skills
• What are Core Skills?
• Communication for Science students
• A collegiate approach
• Examples
• Q and A
3. SUSSOL as a vehicle to deliver
communications skills
• Researching written information from a
variety of sources
• Putting a proposal / summary together
• Report writing
• Presentation skills
• Discussions skills
• All applied to issue of Sustainable
Solutions
4. What are core skills?
• ‘Core Skills’ are a group of five skills that are
key to learning and working in today's world.
• The five Core Skills are:
Communication, Numeracy, Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), Problem
Solving and Working with Others
5. Communication for Science students
• We teach and assess students on the following
areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening
• Communication skills underpin almost all
personal, social, learning, and working activity.
• They are essential in clarifying student’s
thoughts, in interacting with others, in expressing
thoughts, in conveying information, feeling and
opinions
6. Reading
• Reading – relevant magazine or newspaper
articles where the students are taught how to
summarise, analyse and evaluate the
effectiveness of a text
• Subject matter – science based
• New Scientist magazine articles
7. Writing, Speaking and Listening
• Integrated pieces of work in line with the
Science curriculum.
• Our role is to assist with structure, formality,
tone, referencing, suitable for purpose.
8. A collegiate approach
• Working with the students
• Working with the Science lecturers
• Working with the Head Librarian
• Working as a team
9. Examples
• In your pack you have the following:
• Examples of some of the reading pieces the
students analyse and discuss
• Some exemplar work from students
• A copy of the research slides put together
working with the Head Librarian at SCE