7 tips for teaching students how to revise for required practicals

It’s one thing carrying out all required practicals with all students, it’s another making sure they remember everything they need for the GCSE science exams. We asked Alastair Heys, science teacher and textbook author, how he would advise students on how to revise for all 24 of the required practicals.

7 ways to revise the required practicals

There’s so much to revising required practicals than learning the step-by-step instructions.

1. Get a clear understanding of the apparatus and techniques

The number one goal of the required practical element of the GCSE science courses is to ensure students experience all of the ‘Apparatus and Techniques’ criteria laid out by Ofqual.

With this in mind, it is a great idea for students to learn the strengths and limitations of the equipment they use in the lab. For example, a Bunsen burner is great for bringing water to the boil, but a water bath or electric heater is required to keep a solution at a constant warm temperature. Opportunities for this are of course present in any practical activity a student carries out during the course of the year, whether it is a required practical or not.

2. Summarise and review key concepts

Students often benefit from making flashcards on the sometimes overlooked key concepts associated with each investigation. For example, why do we transfer masses between the mass stack and the model car when investigating the relationship between force and acceleration? Why do we need to use an LED lamp, rather than a filament lamp as a light source when investigating the effect of light intensity on photosynthesis?

If you’re about to carry out a required practical with a group of students, it might also be worth noting any gaps in knowledge before you begin. Resources from Learning by Questions can help hugely with this, and won’t require you to mark any work. You’ll be provided with a clear question-level analysis in the lesson, helping you to plan your pre-practical lessons.

3. Practise past practical questions

Simulate exam conditions, and give students past exam questions related to the required practicals. You can then review and discuss answers, emphasising correct techniques, data analysis, and drawing conclusions.

Edexcel actually includes examples of these in their Core Practical Guide - so even if you’re using the AQA exam board, it might still be worth downloading!

Learning by Questions resources also include a full suite of such practice exam questions for all 24 practicals. There are dedicated higher and foundation resources for each practical.

4. Perform the practical again

If possible, encourage students to revisit and re-perform the practical in a controlled setting. Can they perform the investigation again with no written method? On-the-spot “practical tests” can be given at any point during the year.

During these practical repeats, challenge students by giving them slightly different versions of the same equipment, and allow students to assess the strengths and limitations of their equipment. For example, in the microbiology practical, students could be given a ruler without millimetre markings for their first attempt at measuring the diameter of the clear zone around each disc, and a millimetre ruler (or even callipers) in their next attempt.

Students should make a record of every measurement they take, and the equipment they use to measure it. It’s common for students to forget to mention the equipment they have used when writing methods, which can be detrimental to their overall marks. For example, when determining the density of an irregular shaped object, students may write “measure the mass of the object, and the volume of water it displaces.” While this is not wrong, it is far better to say “measure the mass of an object with a microbalance…Measure the volume of water displaced by the object by collecting the water from the displacement can in a measuring cylinder and reading the volume at eye level”.

This hands-on approach can help solidify their grasp of the practical and improve their confidence in performing it accurately during exams.

5. Create revision concept maps and diagrams

Ask students to create concept maps or diagrams illustrating the key steps, equipment, and variables involved in each practical.

This visual representation can aid in better understanding and retention of the practical's structure and components.

6. Utilise flashcards for key terms and formulas

Suggest creating flashcards with key terms, formulas, and concepts related to the practicals. Flashcards about the different types of error - and suggested solutions can also be very helpful.

For example, the systematic error provided by a metric ruler. Most rulers have a gap between the end of the ruler and the beginning of the printed scale. This means that it is very easy to mismeasure the length of an object (resulting in recording a shorter measurement).

Students can use these flashcards to identify the type of errors they can see present in an activity, before suggesting solutions.

Encourage students to regularly review and quiz themselves using these flashcards to reinforce memory and understanding.

7. Analyse data and interpret results

Guide students in analysing data, plotting graphs, and interpreting results from the practicals.

Students benefit from practising these skills within the required practicals, but there is nothing wrong with teaching bespoke lessons just on these skills. Discuss the significance of patterns, trends, and relationships, and how they relate to the underlying scientific principles.

In fact, why not go a step further and look for cross-curricular opportunities for reinforcement? Science teachers and maths teachers can talk about how concepts such as direct and inverse proportion are taught in each subject. Using familiar language in both subjects will help. Students should be able to use data/graphs to spot directly proportional and inversely proportional relationships,and explain how they can be used to make predictions. Ask students to think more about their maths lessons, and how predictions can be made from a graph displaying a linear relationship using the equation of a line “y = mx + c”. Provide students with data with which they can apply these maths skills.

A final word on revision for required practicals

Make sure students are aware that they should not worry about remembering word for word methods for each practical – they are not compulsory. Instead, students should get into good habits when writing methods:

• Always include the independent, dependent and control variables.

• Always state the measurements that will be taken, and what equipment they will be taken with.

Doing this consistently alone will ensure high achievement in exam questions based on method writing.

Using Learning by Questions to revise required practicals

Learning by Questions can’t do the required practicals with your students for you, but they can support before and after - with dedicated required practical resources for both higher and foundation, and for combined and separate sciences.

You can trial LbQ with no obligation, for free, for six weeks. Sign up to trial today!