Differentiation

Every science teacher knows that students don't learn in the same way or at the same pace. Some arrive with rich prior knowledge while others struggle with basic concepts. Some quickly grasp abstract ideas while others need more concrete examples and time to process. Students also differ in non-cognitive factors like motivation, self-confidence, and understanding of themselves as learners.

It's possible to accommodate these differences when you're teaching 1:1, but how can you do this in a class? Our 5As structured teaching sequence builds in differentiation at each stage.

Activate Stage

Many Year 7 students lack essential prior knowledge, and if we don't fill these gaps, they'll just memorise new content without being able to apply it. Our pre-assessments help teachers check understanding of essential prior concepts. 

Those with gaps can get targeted re-teaching, while students who demonstrate solid understanding move to a stretch task. This strategy ensures everyone has the foundation they need to succeed with new learning.

Acquire Stage

While all students get similar high-quality instruction, our structured enquiry approach allows for variation in the amount of scaffolding and independent thinking students do. The teacher's guide sets out ideas for the more supported pathway for students who need extra help - from doing demonstrations instead of independent practicals to identifying specific difficulties and how to address them.

Building on this foundation, we've also streamlined our materials to reduce cognitive load with simplified task explanations and clearer visual layouts.

Apply Stage

GCSE requires students to go beyond recalling knowledge - we want students to apply what they know. This is challenging as it involves identifying when and how to apply concepts in new situations. 

To help all students do this, not just the most able, we teach general cognitive strategies for solving unfamiliar problems and specific strategies for the kinds of problems likely to appear in exams, as well as providing extensive practice.

Assess Stage

Topics usually end with a test and then move on. But what about students who haven't had enough time to learn? Assess provides our checkpoints, with a diagnostic quiz to pinpoint whether they have grasped the concept and reveal misconceptions. 

After that, you can decide if students need a 'rethink' - and then a second chance quiz - or whether they can move on to the more challenging Analyse stage.

Analyse Stage

Students who passed the diagnostic quiz are challenged with tasks that require them to apply knowledge and higher-order thinking - like the AO3 questions in GCSE. These can also be set for homework.

Once students reach this stage, they're working with genuinely challenging material that stretches their thinking through complex problem-solving scenarios rather than just 'more of the same'.

The beauty of this system is that it makes differentiation systematic and manageable while preserving the best aspects of quality-first teaching for everyone. **Time becomes the variable, not the learning outcome.

Embedded assessment

Embedded formative assessment is key to ensuring all students achieve the desired outcomes. Our 5As approach updates Benjamin Bloom's highly successful mastery learning approach from the 1980s, with two stages of embedded assessment: Activate (before teaching) and Assess (after).

Plus the summative Test, and objectives are written at three levels of depth matching GCSE's AO1 (recall), AO2 (application) and AO3 (analysis) — the AO2/AO3 demands that now carry around 60% of GCSE marks.

For SEN teachers

The Proper Science course contains many features designed to support neurodivergent as well as neurotypical learners:

• Each topic starts with an engaging real-world hook to spark curiosity and provide motivation to learn
• 'Acquire' lessons follow the 'Concrete-pictorial-abstract' approach to ensure students start with concrete hands-on experiences, and visual models, before being introduced to abstract theory
• The presentations model the scientific thinking process and make the questions being asked explicit, to teach metacognition

The Mastery Practice Books are designed to teach students step-by-step a set of cognitive strategies for problem solving e.g. self-explanation, which the most successful students may pick up naturally.