Project development

A relatively small number of committed teachers taught Science in Society or Science, Technology and Society for many years. In 1998 Science for Public Understanding (SPU) was launched as a pilot, replacing these earlier AS courses in preparation for the Curriculum 2000 developments.

The SPU course has proved very popular with students and the textbook and web resources are well liked.

In 2005 AQA agreed that the time was now right to extend the subject to a full A level in preparation for the 2008 reforms. In response to feedback from many teachers and students we agreed to change the name to Science in Society. The new AS course is an updated version of the SPU AS. The coursework is unchanged, the content broadly similar but updated.

For the new A2 course we decided to cover fewer issues in greater depth and to develop a rigorous treatment of How Science Works ideas. We also decided to use more problem based learning throughout the course. We have consulted widely amongst scientists and science communicators and received very helpful and supportive feedback.

The team is now working on the development of a full set of teaching resources and on meetings to support the teaching of the new course.

Contributors

The activities on the Science in Society web site have been written by the following people:

Gabe Crisp
Carol Davenport
Angela Hall
Bruce Halsey
Lawrence Herklots
Angela Melamed
Zoe Manning
Elisabeth Parfitt
Dave Smith
Ken Webster
Nicola Wilberforce

If you have ideas for new activities please contact Jo Oladejo.

Last updated: 26 February 2008