Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2003

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FACULTY OF SCIENCE OPENING In the past few years, the approach to the teaching and learning of Science has changed in response to a growing awareness of the diversity of students and groups of students in terms of prior access, types of engagement, and attitudes towards the acquisition and use of information. it has become a more dynamic, flexible space where students can pursue a variety of different activities in the one lesson: moreover, students spend more time in laboratories out of class time as they engage in research, remedial work, consolidation and extension.

The teachers of Science at BGGS value prior knowledge and experience, and challenge students to extend their understanding and capabilities irrespective of what they started with. Just as students don’t all start at the same point, they tend to travel different pathways to reach their goals. We feel that students should have access to flexible study options that personalise the curriculum for them. Education theory abounds with the ways by which an individual’s performance can be enhanced when the learning environment does not act to restrict them from following their own pathways at their own pace. The science laboratory is now quite a different place. Over the past few years,

In the past, Science teachers struggled to implement more appropriate approaches to learning in the facilities that we had. The members of the faculty showed impressive ingenuity on occasion, but it was evident that the time required to solve the problems caused by our aging facilities was a poor use of one of our most critical resources. Construction of the old Science building was completed in 1968. At that time, the accepted approach to science education was through a teacher-centred environment, so the rooms were designed to accommodate a situation where all students performed the same task at the same time. There was no thought then that a single class might be engaged in a variety of activities; consequently, the original fixtures and fittings of the 1968 building limited the effective implementation of modern scientific teaching strategies. What we needed were larger rooms offering flexible use of space. Given that we were refurbishing an existing building, we needed to make sure that we made the best use of the space available. An important space saving feature of our design is the integration of audio visual facilities. Educational theory points to the importance of visualisation in assisting students in their understanding of abstract scientific concepts.

Principal Mrs Amanda Bell with honoured guest Professor Margaret Bullock who officially opened the new Science Centre