The Teaching, Learning and Creativity
(TLC) model for science
Kenneth Rotheram
ABSTRACT The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model suggests a wide variety of activities
in three different phases. In the Teaching Phase, the teacher will discuss, demonstrate key
experiments and provide data for pupils to interpret. In the Learning Phase, pupils will analyse text,
do a simple test and write an essay. In the Creativity Phase, pupils will plan their own experiments,
carry them out and report. Pupils are also expected to write creatively. Interested readers are now
invited to do action research to test this model.
I recently read about the success of Finland and
Singapore in the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) tests and wondered about their curriculum.
A search on the internet revealed that the high
scores were due to raising the attainment of all
abilities and not just the most able. The reasons
for PISA success in various countries are
summarised in Figure 1.
Projects are an important factor in pupils’
success
as they develop reading
Figure in
1. Finland
(124x75mm) Good pupil
motivation!
and writing skills. In Singapore, the teaching
is traditional and most parents supplement
their children’s education by paying for afterschool private revision classes. A pupil may
spend 13 hours a day in study and also work at
weekends. The Singapore government, although
proud of its achievement, is now worried that
its students lack creativity. I decided to design a
model with activities that promote pupil learning
and creativity and also implement the objectives
of both the English National Curriculum and
examination boards.
Skilled reading
for
understanding!
High teacher
expectations!
Effective
discipline in
school!
Problem
solving!
Pupil
learning!
Figure 1 Essential requirements for pupil learning
Working on
projects and
revision
strategies!
Strong
parental
support!
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The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model for scienceRotheram
The TLC model
The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC)
model involves a Teaching Phase, a Learning
Phase and a Creativity Phase. Summary details are
shown in Figure 2.
Discussion
The components of the model are all well-known
and tested techniques, which Wellington and Ireson
(2012) discuss fully. I imagine all teachers will have
used these techniques at various times. There will
also be a mixture of active and passive activities for
the pupil, involving listening, reading and writing,
and planning and performing experiments. The
strategies involved are shown in Figure 3.
The Teaching Phase
The model advocates basic observations, setting
a question and the evolution of the design of a
controlled experiment using a suitable means of
measurement. The teacher could show one or
more full experiments. Alternatively, only the
start of the experiment could be shown, followed
by a discussion on how measurements can be
made. The teacher appropriately introduces the
worksheets with laboratory data, challenging
pupils to reach their own conclusions. The teacher
will discuss the evidence, suggest explanations,
emphasise major concepts and summarise the
topic with what, where, when, how and why
questions. The pupil will now have knowledge
and understanding and sufficient experience to
allow the planning of one or more variations of an
experiment in the Creativity Phase.
The next part of the Teaching Phase involves
the distribution of Topic Notes on paper for
each pupil to read. These should be written by
the teacher with the reading age of the pupil in
mind. The English Department should supply
this information and it will also help the teacher
to support the weakest readers. Providing written
Topic Notes also means that copying from the
whiteboard is now not necessary. The time saved
here can be used in later phases.
The Learning Phase
The pupil will now be expected to analyse the Topic
Notes for key words, definitions and major ideas
l The
Teaching
Phase
teacher is to involve the pupils in observations, measurement techniques
and the methodology of key experiments which provide evidence for the topic.
l Short practical demonstrations are used to illustrate methodology.
l The teacher is to use evidence (appropriate experimental data on worksheets)
to challenge pupils to reach conclusions.
l The teacher is to discuss and summarise the topic and provide Topic Notes for
use in the Learning Phase.
l Pupils
Learning
Phase
are to analyse the Topic Notes and show the key words, definitions
and major ideas using three coloured highlighting pens (a DART technique).
l Pupils are to match key words to definitions, under test conditions.
l Pupils are to construct a mind map and then write a short essay under test
conditions.
l Pupils are to answer a small number of structured questions on problem
solving.
l Teacher
Creativity
Phase
and pupils are to plan a new experiment using the equipment and
measuring methods already introduced in the Teaching Phase.
l Pupils are to carry out the experiment and provide a written and oral report.
l Pupils are to read and analyse the Creativity Notes provided by the teacher. A
short summary essay and presentation completes the activity.
l Pupils are to complete one or more of the Creativity Tasks provided by the
teacher.
Figure 2 The Teaching, Learning and Creativity Phases
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Rotheram
The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model for science
Figure 3 Strategies within the TLC model
or concepts. This revision activity with coloured
pens is an important active process, which led me
to develop my ability to pick out the important
information in text. It also gave me the confidence
to read and understand complex scientific papers at
university. The activity of underlining text is now
called a DART (directed activity related to text) and
is believed to help children to read for meaning.
PISA in Focus no. 30 (OECD, 2013) indicates
that pupils in the best-performing countries often
summarise information. PISA research indicates
that the UK has average reading performance and
below average use of effective strategies. PISA
states that using strategies may raise performance
by 20%. Revision strategies such as mind maps,
summary essays and answering problem-solving
questions in the TLC model may help too.
The next step involves the matching of key
words and definitions under test conditions. This is
followed by a writing exercise involving an essay,
to detect how well learning has been achieved.
I suggest a short essay rather than a multiplechoice test because an essay immediately shows
the pupil’s knowledge and understanding. Writing
frequent essays also improves scientific literacy.
Writing essays is a high-level skill and the
pupils should be introduced to the idea of a mind
map with questions such as What, Where, When,
How and Why. This format will focus the essay
construction and then ensure the inclusion of the
appropriate key words.
Essay marking need not be considered an
onerous task and in fact the comments added to the
essay should promote better learning, especially if
the pupil is expected to improve it for homework.
The average and less able pupil may struggle with
this activity and high expectations and support will
be needed in the classroom. If reading levels can be
improved through such practice then pupils will be
better prepared to read and understand examination
questions. Examination papers should then be full
of answers rather than being left mainly blank.
Another activity involves working through a
small number of structured questions on problem
solving. These could be written by the teacher or
taken from suitable past examination questions.
PISA sample questions are available online
(see Websites) and they are of interest because
they usually involve a considerable amount of
reading and questions are often presented in novel
situations. Another PISA emphasis is the fair test
and the controlled experiment.
The Creativity Phase
The pupil will look again at the apparatus and
measuring instruments used in the Teaching Phase
and then plan an experiment. The teacher will be
there to guide and give support in the planning
of a new experiment, and many will probably
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The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model for scienceRotheram
ask a new question such as ‘What is the effect
of X on Y?’ Pupils will then be responsible for
writing down the plan and considering safety
aspects before seeking permission to proceed from
the teacher. After carrying out the experiment,
the pupil will be expected to write a report with
Aim, Method, Results and Conclusions sections.
Some pupils enjoy making an oral report and
five minutes seems a sensible use of time per
person for this activity. It may be that there is only
sufficient time for a few to report for each topic.
The next part of the Creativity Phase involves
a mini-project (creative writing). This could be on
topics such as famous scientists, genetic diseases,
global warming, nuclear power and genetically
modified crops. Pupils are to read some Creativity
Notes written by the teacher (these should have a
very basic sentence structure, so that average and
less able pupils can read them effectively). These
are to include text with illustrations such as photos,
data and graphs. This is preferable to pupils being
expected to find books or search the internet and
then read text that has been written for the reading
Figure 4 Examples of Creativity Tasks
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age of an adult. A video could also be provided.
The pupils will be able to use coloured pens to
analyse the information.
After the Creativity Notes have been edited,
they could then be used to produce a mind map
and a short summary essay in the classroom. If
time permits, pupils may wish to continue and
use IT (Word, Pages, iBooks Author, Keynote,
PowerPoint, etc.) to produce an illustrated
document or presentation. Oral presentations
could also be included.
Creativity Tasks could also be provided to
extend the range of creative activities, so that
pupils can apply, produce, discover, compare and
contrast, relate, invent, imagine and plan (see
examples in Figure 4). After a reasonable amount
of time, prompt sheets could be provided for
pupils who struggle with the task.
Further comments
l The less able – It may be said that writing
up practical work and writing essays
disadvantages the least able in a mixed ability
class and that some who are good at practical
Rotheram
l
l
l
l
The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model for science
work in science may struggle. A wide variety
of DART techniques may be more suitable.
These will help to improve reading skills.
They will also improve general literacy and the
ability to answer questions in examinations.
The Learning Support Department in the
school should be able to help with DARTS.
Marking – The essays will need to be
annotated with helpful remarks and given
a score. In many schools, multiple-choice
questions are used at the end of each topic.
Doing two types of assessment would be
unnecessary and multiple-choice questions
should probably only be used in end-of-year
tests. In Finland, a pupil who fails is asked to
repeat the end-of-year test to ensure a high
standard. Teachers also tell the pupils that
they could be kept down for a year, but this
rarely happens.
Technician involvement – Technicians should
not be inconvenienced if pupils are doing a
variation to a set experiment, as the teacher
will only have introduced an experiment that
has multiple sets of measuring instruments,
glassware, etc. The teacher may ask pupils to
write down a list for the technician to supply
in the next lesson.
Whole-class experiments – Teacher-directed
whole-class experiments with instructions are
absent from the TLC model. This is deliberate
because a series of such experiments is very
time-consuming and the actual interpretation
of data usually only takes up a small
proportion of time. Pupils following the TLC
model will still have the opportunity to do
practical work in science but it will be to their
own design. Whole-class activity could be
included in a special topic at the beginning of
each year to introduce pupils to more complex
aspects of the scientific method.
Primary – Young pupils will be introduced
to a variety of observation and measuring
instruments such as the microscope, stopwatch,
thermometer, ruler, quadrat, scales and litmus
paper, and these will all allow the TLC model to
be used. The new National Curriculum has notes
and guidance for teachers. At times, practical
work is not suggested and the ‘practical’ TLC
model above could be changed to a ‘theory’
TLC model. The Teaching Phase would then
involve only a teacher discussion (perhaps
supported by a completion DART worksheet)
l
l
l
l
l
l
and Topic Notes. The Learning Phase would
not be altered. The Creativity Phase would
only involve the Creativity Notes, a summary
essay, presentations and Creativity Tasks.
Lower secondary – Pupils will be introduced
to a wider variety of measuring instruments
in different topics. This will again allow
‘practical’ and ‘theory’ TLC models to be used.
Upper secondary – Pupils will be introduced
to more-complex measuring instruments and
apparatus. This will again allow ‘practical’ and
‘theory’ TLC models to be used.
A-level – This again involves a significant
amount of theory and practical work so both
‘practical’ and ‘theory’ TLC models can
be used.
Action research – As a retired teacher I
do not now have the opportunity to test the
TLC model with children and would like to
suggest that those who are interested might
conduct some simple action research. This
could include various science topics, various
abilities, boy/girl, primary, early secondary,
biology, chemistry, physics, homework miniprojects, the use of IT apps, etc. The National
Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
website provides several downloadable guides
to action research – fill in the expression of
interest form to get more advice. If you wish
to report your findings, School Science Review
publishes science education notes and major
articles. The Science Learning Centres could
also find your work interesting and worthy of
further distribution.
Online centre – If action research shows
TLC to be of value then the next practical step
would be to have a central online coordinating
centre with a resource database for different
topics. The database, which would include
a description of the Teaching Phase, Topic
Notes, key words, exemplars of pupils’
essays, Learning Phase structured questions,
Creativity Notes, a description of Creativity
Phase pupil activities and exemplars of pupils’
reports, would be built up by contributing
schools. Singapore has already started an
online resource.
Cross-curricular – If TLC raises standards
in science, then it could be extended across
the curriculum as the Teaching, Learning
and Creativity Phases are common to all
subjects, though with different emphases.
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The Teaching, Learning and Creativity (TLC) model for scienceRotheram
Weekly mini-projects for subject topics, local
ancient monuments, local architecture, town
development, sport, the mathematics of local
businesses, local artists, the music of pop
stars, local authors, local churches, etc., could
raise standards even further.
l Teachers’ professional development –
Teachers now take ownership of their
professional development to nurture the
competencies required for the 21st century.
Classroom observations and action research
could be instrumental in promoting this and
even be a way to assess performance-related
pay by an outside body, such as the NFER. In
Shanghai, every teacher has a mentor and they
frequently discuss learning strategies after
classroom observations.
The TLC model will involve teachers in a wide
variety of teaching styles and will introduce pupils
to both passive and active learning. The model
also seeks to encourage creativity. The model has
three phases, which are integrated, so that one
phase then provides material for the others. It is
a flexible structure and the suggestions above
may be modified where necessary to suit the
topic, the abilities of the pupils concerned and the
time available.
Initially, the TLC model may be demanding
for the teacher as teaching styles may have to
change, notes will have to be composed, essays
will have to be annotated, guidance will have to
be given to pupil mini-projects and structured
questions may have to be written. The pupil
will be expected to achieve high standards in
reading, writing, learning and practical work.
Listening, thinking and planning skills will also
be developed. The less able will need suitably
differentiated tasks.
The TLC model may be a useful way to
promote a broad and balanced curriculum,
improve scientific literacy, encourage creativity
and raise standards in examinations.
References
Websites
OECD (2013) Could learning strategies reduce the
performance gap between advantaged and disadvantaged
students? PISA in Focus, (30), 1–4. Available at: www.
oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/pisa%20in%20
focus%20n30%20(eng)--Final.pdf.
Wellington, J. and Ireson, G. (2012) Science Learning,
Science Teaching. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
website: www.nfer.ac.uk.
OECD PISA: www.oecd.org/pisa.
PISA Sample Questions: pisa-sq.acer.edu.au.
School Science Review: www.ase.org.uk/journals/schoolscience-review.
Science Learning Centres: www.sciencelearningcentres.
org.uk.
Conclusion
Kenneth Rotheram is a retired science teacher. Email: r [email protected]
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