Pupil Research Briefs - General Teacher Notes

Pupil Research Briefs (PRBs), produced by the Centre for Science Education, were designed to support the teaching and learning of science (including the separate sciences) at GCSE and Scottish Standard Grade levels. Each brief was targeted at a topic within the curriculum at the time.

Most PRBs also provided opportunities for investigative work. Although PRBs showed a wide range of approaches, a unifying feature was that each one presented teachers and students with opportunities to experience, as far as was reasonably possible, the ways that science and engineering researchers think and work.

The PRBs were created to fit a model that described a set of categories into which the incredibly varied activities carried out by researchers could be placed. This model was a way of representing the activities involved in research in a way that allowed them to be translated into structured curriculum materials. There were four components to the model:
• Research context
• Background knowledge
• Investigation
• Communication

Contents of the General teacher notes
• The Pupil Researcher Initiative
• Researchers in Residence
• Pupil Research Briefs (PRBs)
• Teaching and learning approaches
• Experimental and Investigative Science
• Health and safety

Appendix
• Experimental and investigative science opportunities in PRBs
• General requirements of the programme of study for Key Stage Four (GCSE) science
• How to be a successful problem solver - GRASP it!
• PRBs and the CREST Award scheme
• EPSRC and PPARC
• Investigation flow chart

HEALTH and SAFETY
Any use of a resource that includes a practical activity must include a risk assessment. Please note that collections may contain ARCHIVE resources, which were developed at a much earlier date. Since that time there have been significant changes in the rules and guidance affecting laboratory practical work. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance.

• URL: http://stem.org.uk/rx7ad