This document discusses different approaches to teaching skills, including: - The UK curriculum says skills should be taught through substantive science content. - US science standards integrate skills with content in "learning performances" that construct explanations based on evidence. - Research finds that skills should be broken into components, taught individually with modeling and focused practice, and integrated across topics with lots of practice. - In practice, skills often lack explicit teaching and are marginalized in curriculum time due to an "expert blind spot".

1. Teaching skills to mastery
Co-funded by
the Seventh Framework Programme
of the European Union
Introduction
FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

2. Teach skills to mastery
The UK Curriculum says Insert your own statement
‘Working scientifically’ is described separately at the
beginning of the programme of study, but must always
be taught through and clearly related to substantive
science content in the programme of study.

3. The US Science Standards say:
Skills integrated with content in ‘learning performances’
“Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on
astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant
galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe”

4. What the UK inspectors say Insert your own statement:
Enquiry is mentioned 25 times in ‘Maintaining Curiosity’ (2013)

5. What psychologists say:
“inquiry-based instruction places a huge burden on
working memory. The onus should surely be on those
who support inquiry-based instruction to explain how
such a procedure circumvents the well-known limits of
working memory when dealing with novel information”
(from ‘An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based,
experiential and inquiry-based teaching)

6. What research says:
• break skills into components + teach one at a time
• use modelling and focussed practice
• help students integrate skills into the whole task
• give lots of practice across a range of topics

7. Teach skills to mastery
What happens in practice:
• Lack of explicit teaching
• Skills often marginalised in curriculum time
• ‘expert blind spot’

8. What TEMI offers
• Learning performances in curriculum materials
• Gradual Release of Responsibility model
• Content-and skills-first versions of lessons
• Cognitive strategies (Lifelines)