A fantastic compendium of concrete strategies to use in the science classroom.
Boxer goes into detail about the different phases of a lesson, paying very close attention to the often overlooked ‘Art of the Explanation’. Boxer outlines the different ‘Directions of Travel’ a teacher could take when explaining a concept, and provides an incredibly handy summary in the appendix. This addresses the issue faced during ITT that we receive little formal training on how to actually explain concepts, a skill that is fundamental to our profession. The 114 pages on delivering explanations is truly comprehensive.
The book maintains a strong evidence base throughout, with ‘Theory Sidebars’ that reference principles from cognitive science.
All in all, Teaching Secondary Science: A Complete Guide is an excellent book for science teachers at all stages. It provides excellent advice on every stage of the learning sequence, including checking for pre-requisite knowledge, writing practice sets and how to review assessments.
It provides guidance on how best to maximise the learning of your pupils and minimise teacher workload, whilst also providing excellent examples and lesson scripts for teachers to put into practice.