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TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001 Editorial The Key Stage 3 National Strategy has now hit UK secondary schools, with new and highly-structured approaches to teaching and learning advocated (and required?) for all schools. First to be implemented are literacy and numeracy, not only within English/maths lessons but also across the whole school curriculum. Literacy is the most advanced in its introduction in schools, apparently because its documentation has been produced slightly earlier than the maths materials! For Key Stage 3 teachers, other than English specialists, the key document is a large leverarch file called Literacy Across the Curriculum (DFEE 2001) which was published in April 2001 for implementation during the current academic year. This INSET file is full of suggestions for enhancing children’s literacy across the KS3 curriculum. There is much that is not new but nevertheless the document provides a comprehensive source of material. Although the KS3 Literacy Strategy is obviously intended for children in Years 7, 8 and 9 (aged 11-14 years), there is much that can be adapted for use in Key Stage 4 and post-16. For example the section on “Spelling and Vocabulary” includes, among other things, a checklist of 25 different strategies for improving students’ grasp of specialist words. Most of these are appropriate for post-16 teaching: hands up all post-16 teachers whose students always spell “environment” correctly, with the middle “n” intact! The section called “Writing Non-fiction” is likely to be one of the most relevant sections for TES readers. Many of the issues addressed in this section relate not only to writing but also to reading, although later sections in the file deal with reading more explicitly. Analysing texts is one of these issues. Students are encouraged to examine texts (either written or read by them) at three levels: text; sentence; and word. Different questions need to be asked at each level and, through evaluation and re-drafting, written texts can be improved. By employing the same analyses students can enhance their understanding of their reading texts. This leads me conveniently to the use of narrative in teaching geoscience: an issue which is, unsurprisingly, not thoroughly covered in the KS3 strategy. Many readers will know of the so-called Deprat Affair. Roger Osborne (1999) provides a crisp account. The book is written rather as a thriller, with deliberate withholding of the final outcome till late in the book. It is a good read and not a lengthy book. I won’t spoil it for you now: well, not much anyway. Briefly, and for the uninitiated, during the first decade of the Twentieth Century Jaques Deprat (born 1880) rose to become one of the most highly-regarded young geologists in France, with an international reputation. In fact his rise within the profession was meteoric. After obtaining a doctorate at the Sorbonne, he set off with his wife and two children in 1909 to French Indo-China as Head of the Geological Service of Indo-China. French Indo-China comprised present-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Deprat was based in Hanoi. Deprat was an active climber and explorer and much of his work in Indo-China involved fieldwork in remote and inhospitable localities. The narrator paints a vivid picture of a glamorous life . Deprat published his work regularly, although this was often a long-drawnout process because of the ship travel time to France. Specimens and documents were constantly and routinely moving between colony and mother country. Deprat’s international standing continued to strengthen, largely as a result of his pioneer work in structural geology: the reputation of the French Indo-China Geological Service rose accordingly. Then in 1917 the first bombshell struck: he was accused of fraud. To be precise, he was accused of placing some European trilobite specimens alongside some obtained in Indo-China. Trinucleus and Dalmanites spp. were involved. Clearly this was a most serious accusation and the story really starts here: I won’t go on. The Deprat story has all the key ingredients of a successful whodunnit: several suspects, strong personalities, envy, conspiracy, ambition, nepotism and so forth. For TES readers it has the extra ingredient of geology. Added to these are the twists in the tale itself: it is definitely not a straightforward story and the extent to which we have achieved “closure” remains highly debatable. How can we use rich narrative material such as this (Osborne 1999) in our geoscience teaching? First, we should recognise that many students, post-16 or otherwise, take well to such stories so we might ensure they engage with them. The reading simply enriches the experiences of some, but obviously not of all. Second, and more systematically, we might be able to use the narrative as stimulus material: a “way in” to the study of trilobites, investigations, structural geology, plate movements or whatever. This is particularly important for those learners who relate more readily to tales of human interaction than they do to scientific accounts (which they often perceive as cold) Third, as all teachers are teachers of literacy, we might be able to use sections of the text, or material written by ourselves covering the same ground, as the basis for analysis at text, sentence or word levels. At the word level, for example, the Deprat story involves not only the two trilobite genera named above but also several other fossil species, nappes, Tethys, various lithologies, Palaeozoic geographies, fieldwork procedures and conventions and so forth. At the sentence level the fol- www.esta-uk.org 86
ESTA? Websearch Book Reviews Diary TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001 lowing sample from Osborne (1999) is offered as a potentially fruitful case for analysis in terms of language and geology: “There are numerous specimens of Ptychaspis walcotti, a fossil trilobite from the Cambrian, and Deprat had found an example of Trinucleus ornatus known from Ordovician strata in Europe – one of the suspect trilobites” (p. 197). At the text level the entire book provides a tightly-structured narrative, with some key facts withheld till the closing chapters .....but tantalisingly suggested in the earlier chapters. Lastly, I am wondering if there is scope to work up a learning activity based on the Deprat material which develops children’s literacy and geoscience skills? It could require students to analyse the geological evidence and propose solutions: any offers? Roger Trend References Osborne, Roger (1999). The Deprat Affair: Ambition, Revenge and Deceit in French Indo-China. London: Jonathan Cape DFEE (2001). Literacy Across the Curriculum. London: DFEE (Document Code 0235/2001) To Advertise in teaching EARTH SCIENCES Telephone ??? on ?? teaching EARTH SCIENCES Journal of EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001 ● ISSN 0957-8005 rth Science ach Earth System Science: A Be ter Way to Teach Science Enquiry Geology and the Human Environment – The Nuclear Waste Problem Iron Ore Formation: A Laboratory Model Developing Observational Skills for Geoscience Fieldwork: a Web-based Teaching Exercise Earth Science Activities and Demonstrations: Sedimentary Rocks An Earth Science Fieldtrip for Key Stage 3 Pupils Further Thoughts – Where Next for New ESTA Members Cash for Research www.esta-uk.org From the ESTA Chair: What a Year! 2000-2001 How many times have we heard that phrase over the last twelve months – and with justification? Taking the period between the two AGMs – the froth of the Millennium celebrations was beginning to blow away – the Dome was deflated – getting anywhere by road, then rail (and now air) was a nightmare – an ever-warming or at least more variable climate, and that was before the ESTA conference at Kingston. Within 48 hours, the whole World was plunged into turmoil. By contrast, a review of developments across Earth science as a whole, let alone the UK or Earth science teaching and ESTA in particular, appears so infinitesimal as to be unworthy of consideration. But there are many positives to report here in the face of such wide-ranging despondency. At the beginning of our year, the first tentative moves had been made to engage the co-operation of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and these had received an enthusiastic response. The aim was to seek the involvement of those teaching ‘mainstream’ sciences to improve the quality of delivery of Earth science in all schools – starting with the secondary sector. Hosted by the Royal Society, the first full meeting went exceptionally well, and engaged the RSC, the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Biology, together with representatives of the geological community. A surprise bonus was the announcement by Annette Thomas that UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) was prepared to underwrite the running costs of the Joint Earth Science Education Initiative (JESEI) and this no doubt stimulated the three scientific Institutions to add their support in their respective fields. Our sincere thanks go to all concerned. So the mythology of all-pervasive antagonism to the Earth sciences by non-Earth scientist teachers was not only debunked: there was a real spirit of engagement by people prepared to back words with action and finance. This is of course the ‘official view from the top’. The position at the chalk- (or should we say calcined gypsum) face may not yet be so enlightened, but the mechanism of cascading authoritative and proven quality Earth science teaching materials with the endorsement of their own institutions is designed to address this situation precisely. That was the essential groundwork. By the end of the summer, the hard grind of producing that quality material, the decisions on the most appropriate vehicle for dissemination, style of presentation etc were only just beginning. If you feel that you could help this initiative in any way, or have useful ideas, please contact me (especially if you are at heart a converted chemist, physicist or biologist!). Later stages will need to address primary level and links with geography – and, perhaps in the far distance, informing the wider public of good Earth science. Another ‘reason to be cheerful’, over the year has been the marked success of the Earth Science Education Unit at the University of Keele. Whereas this is not strictly an ESTA activity, access to the Keele infrastructure has enabled ESTA members to pilot an invaluable INSET service (which logistically ESTA itself would have been unable to deliver at this scale). Moreover it has now achieved a standard sufficiently high in terms of quality and results to attract further substantial funding from UKOOA to cover the costs of a national ‘roll out’. Long may this partnership continue. Having served on the Primary Group for eleven years (and providing INSET as far back as the Liverpool conference in 1991) I know that the consistent hard work of members has been very largely unsung. They are now building on the excellent pack on Rocks, by drawing up teaching material on soils. Within their relatively slender budget, their output is very good value for money indeed. Neither of these would have been possible without the generous support of the Curry Fund – we are most grateful. Cont. on page 88 87 www.esta-uk.org
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