The National STEM Centre
The National STEM Centre in York is building the largest collections of resources for teachers of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the UK.
You are already welcome to visit the resource collections in person. From 2010 onwards many of the resources will be made available online. We also offer support to schools, colleges, and STEM partner organisations who wish to make use of the onsite facilities to enhance their STEM education activity. For further information on visiting, or any aspect of our work, please contact us.
Continue to read more about the National STEM Centre.
Themes
In 'Themes' we highlight curriculum development projects, past and present, that have had a major influence on teaching and learning of STEM subjects.
Features
Results time again
- posted by
- John Holman
- on
- 25th August 2010
Every year I scour the A Level and GCSE results statistics for indications about the popularity of sciences. For many years in the 1990s and early 2000s this was a dispiriting job, as we saw a seemingly unstoppable decline in popularity, particularly in Physics and Chemistry, coupled with stories about the closure of numerous university Chemistry and Physics Departments.
All that is changing now, and we are seeing a renaissance in the popularity of school science. Take A level for example: Physics numbers are up 5.2% this year, Chemistry up 3.7% and Biology up 4.3%. This kind of growth, particularly in Physics, would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Looking next at the GCSE results, I see that numbers taking triple science are up by about 30% - triple science has been a real success story and we must be nearing the point now where it is on offer in every state school in the country. Triple science is an excellent preparation for A level, and we should not rest until this goal has been achieved. .
So, just what exactly is driving this resurgence in the popularity of science in schools? Economic realism must have something to do with it. With youth unemployment… More about Results time again
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