ABSTRACT
How often have you heard the phrase: ‘Are we doing prac. today, Sir?’ or ‘Are we using the Bunsens today, Miss?’ These are the frequent questions that teachers are asked at the start of many lessons. Science is seen as a practical subject and practical work is fun. Pupils think of practical work as less academically demanding and less like ‘real work’. School practical work has been with us for some time 1 but science teachers' enthusiasm for it has waxed and waned over the last twenty years or so and you will find today that some teachers spend far more time on it than others. In recent years one of the major driving forces for increasing the amount of practical work was the introduction of the GCSE examination. These syllabuses required teachers to assess pupils' practical skills and submit the marks to the examination boards to be part of those used for the allocation of examination grades. This innovation helped to raise the status of practical work in schools and ensured that all pupils would have some practical experience during their GCSE course. The impetus for doing practical work has continued with the introduction of the National Curriculum, with one-quarter of the marks at KS4 being allocated to practical-related work.
