Task 4

An interview with a Primary School Science coordinator/Teacher

Objectives:
For student teachers to:
 Continue to develop positive working relationships in the classroom with both the teacher
and the students by acting as a TA within the classroom under the direction of the MST.

  Interview the Science coordinator or the person responsible for science policy,
syllabus, and resource management to discuss science provision within the setting.
Additionally try to better understand all of the roles and responsibilities of science
teachers at the school. Record and/or document the interview – See Table 7 for sample
questions.

 Continue to document the range of materials, manupulatives and equipment used

in the school; for specific grade levels

 You will need:

 The Teaching Practice Tasks booklet for Practicum 3b
 Table 5: Documenting science materials used in the school
 Table 7: An interview with a Primary School science coordinator
 A digital camera
 Table 4: TP Discussion Board Guidelines

Before implementing these tasks:

 Discuss each of these tasks with your partner. Decide what each of you will do. Discuss the
tasks with your MST. (Ask for permission to take photographs)

Whilst implementing the Tasks:

 Make notes about any areas of interest or issues you would like to discuss with your MCT
and/or MST.
 Photograph evidence for the tasks and portfolio.

After completion of the tasks:

1. Complete Table 4: An interview with a Primary School science coordinator. PDF and
upload it to the ‘TP Tasks’ section of your TP e-portfolio

2. Continue to work on Table 5: Documenting science materials used in the school. PDF
and upload it to your TP e-portfolio. Email tasks, etc. to gdesravins@hct.ac.ae using
the correct file names/subject lines.

3. Complete your TP Discussion Board on BB Learn and reply to 2 others.

 Table 4: An interview with a Primary School science coordinator
Sample interview questions for the Principal
and/or science coordinator/teacher re: science
provision in the setting.
Is there a science coordinator and/or how many
1 specified science teachers are there in the school?
 What are the duties/responsibilities of the science
teacher/coordinator?
 Does she teach any, all students or just specific
year groups?
 Obtain a teaching schedule and any schemes of
work, lesson plans, software used etc. from the
science coordinator/teacher.
2 Who is responsible for science policy and
provision within the setting?
(Can we obtain a copy of the policy?)
3 Online/Blended Learning:
 Does the setting have its own website? If so, what
is the URL, who created it and who is responsible
for managing and updating it?
 Is there any online/blended learning taking place
related to science? If so, how is this delivered?
 What ICT resources are used specifically for
teaching science?
Responses from the Principal and/or
science coordinator/teacher re: science
provision in the setting.
According to Ms.Anaam There is a science
HOD, and there is a team leader for grade one
and two and the team leader she is
responsible for grade one and two for the
Science, English, and Math, and there are 10
science teachers and 1 lab technician, there
are no specific duties for the science teacher
.Ms.Anaam teach grade 11 girls and she
teaches them biology , she said no problem to
teach any grade level but she prefers to teach
high-grade level and she has an experience
and she teaches from grade 3 to 11. She said
about last part, she provides for us the lesson
plan but actually, she didn't give for us.
According to Ms, Anaam she said, for sure
there is a school vision mission about the
science-policy how is found it to be the onset
she did for the science section and she
aligned with the school vision and Mission
and she said it not allowed to do anything if
it does not follow the school Vision and
Mission. And they still work on it and they
did not finish it.
According to Ms.Anaam, she said they
doesn’t have a special website for the science
but they have a web page for the school and
the have account for the school on Instagram
and Facebook, Also they have a group on the
WhatsApp, there is a blended learning from
grade 1 to grade 8 they have an online
resource it come with the resource and they
have a think central and from 9 to 11 HRW
and she said they use an online resource on
the class such as kahoot for the help the
students. CT resources they use the basic one
such as a laptop, projector, speakers and the
smartboard and she said that they don't have
specific ICT resources for the science.
http://firstacademy.org/index.php/en/
4 What science equipment/manipulatives/resources
can be found the setting? (Is there a list?
Differentiate between the classroom; the science lab
and other areas in the setting e.g. library)
 Is there a budget for materials?
 Who trains teachers and staff in the use the
equipment?
 Who manages the equipment and materials?
5 Is/Are there dedicated science labs in this setting?
 If yes, how is it used and by whom? How is it
organised? What equipment can be found here?
 If no, why not? e.g. lack of funds? No need?
Enough science equipment and expertise in each
classroom?
 Does the setting feel it has enough specialist
science teachers, technicians and dedicated
science rooms?
6 Which science resources does the setting feel it
needs or would like to have to achieve its vision or
better science teaching and learning?
 e.g. Science Kits, books, wifi,
manipulatives/models, digital
cameras/camcorders, lab equipment OR soft
materials (consumables- colored paper, glue,
popsicle sticks etc.).
According to Ms.Anaam, she said there is a
budget for the materials and about Who trains
teachers to use materials she said the HOD
and the lab technician and said there is a
science teacher so they can use it by
themselves, Also she said if the equipment is
a new and very trendy, and she said when the
biology teacher came he or she should know
how they can use the microscope but also
they make a training for the how to use
equipment and she said if they will bring a
new equipment the company of the
equipment they training the teachers. For the
end, she said the lab technician and HOD they
manage the equipment and materials.
According to Ms.Anaam, she said there are
three labs each lab is divided for a subject like
a science and a biology also in each lab it has
a lot of materials and there a different section
in each lab and then said you can go to the lab
technician to help you and there is a
microscope, she said each year the say of
what the materials they want and then they
send it to the Accounting department and they
see if it approval and if including the budget.
Also, she said they don't have any missing in
the labs and the teachers.
According to Ms.Anaam, she feels there is a
something missing the first thing that the
complete kits for the project, then she said
there is a company they have a kit for the
stem project and the students disassemble the
materials like a box containing a Lego and the
box that contain everything with a guideline.
and about the soft materials then she said
about this question, to be honest there no limit
to reach the satisfaction feeling, like if you
think that you reach this part that means
finish the science but you discover there are a
lot of things you should learn, then she said
yes she wants to achieve its vision or better
science teaching and learning by bringing a
lot of online resources, materials, kits,
equipment, digital, and technology. Then she
said that doesn’t mean that our school doesn’t

7 What are the safety rules?
 Are the safety rules posted in the science setting?
 Who developed these and are they
mandatory/enforced?
8 What safety equipment is available and when is it
used commonly?
 Is safety equipment available for all students in the
classrooms?
have all the basic, they have an all the basic
that support the experiment.
According to Ms.Anaam, she said there is a
safety rule and they have a book about the
safety and they have a policy form and they
have in the science lab a safety rules posters.
And the safety rules is mandatory and
enforced.
According to Ms.Anaam, she said there a
nurse for the girl and boy section and
something happens the nurse will do their
work, and equipment cleaned because of the
cleaner clean the equipment every day.

 Is equipment cleaned, if so by whom? Who

manages this duty?
9 Planning for learning- how are the science lessons According to Ms.Anaam, she said following
planned for in the setting?
 Does the MOE/Zone/KHDA provide unit
plans/lesson plans? (can we obtain a copy of
this?)
 Are there weekly planning meetings? What is
usually done in the planning meetings?
 Who attends the planning meetings?
 Does the school have specific goals related to
science (TIMMS scores etc.)?
10 How is learning assessed in the science classroom? According to Ms.Anaam, she said about the
 Is there an assessment plan for the semester?
What does it include?
 Do teachers collect student data? What data, when, then she said I was a teacher the data help me
and what is it used for?
 How do students get feedback so that they can
make improvements?
the science standers plus they have a form for
the school and them as a science section and
teacher follow the school policy and the
school policy has form and they make a full
matching for the science. They have weekly
meeting every Thursday on the sixth period
around the twelve o'clock, they have three
thing that happens number one is deliver all
the information from the admin if there is any
information that the teacher should know then
she give them a regular instructions what they
have to do and what she excepted from them
and they just discus the time that the teacher
should due dater their work, the third one if
the teacher has any problem or issue. All the
science teacher are a requirement to attend no
one allowed to miss this meeting, she said for
sure we have an action plan.
data is a big world, she said if I want to have
a data I should have or memorize the previous
data year. anything that related to the data
from the previous semester unit this semester,
when the students enter the school they make
for the students an exam to know in which
level this student and ask them a question, but
for the math and English they have a different
exam than the science. Then she takes the

11 What science professional development / training
do teachers currently receive or have recently
had?
 How frequently and from whom did they /are they
receiving this?
 Do they have a document that outlines this PD?
 What PD do they think teachers in the setting still
need?
result of the exam then she transformation to
100 percentage they transformation to 100
because of it easy to deal with 100 numbers,
then she analyzes the student's ability to know
where they weakness. Then she will compare
the result and grade and if they still weak they
have an action plan and they compare
between three semesters and the first year and
last year, teachers also the section boy and
girl. The students get their feedback by the
midterm report from the kg to grade 11 plus
the students have parent evening meeting.
According to Ms.Anaam, she said they have
planned for the PD and on the begging of the
year, they give the teacher a paper where you
want to develop yourself. They have a
document and on the begging of the semester,
they have a lot of PD for the teacher or the
new teacher that they don't know the school
yet.