School: Pinjarra Senior High School (WA)
Partner: University of Western Australia
Pinjarra Senior High School is a rural senior high school that is currently experiencing a remarkable demographic shift. Once primarily a farming area, with Pinjarra SHS as the only senior high school in the Peel region, the school now draws students from the broadest range of backgrounds. Most students perform in the middle to low range of the state and national cohort, and it is a challenge for the school to engage and motivate their students towards realising their full potential.
In keeping with this desire to challenge its students, Pinjarra Senior High School formed a partnership with the University of Western Australia to deliver a Thinking Science program for Year 8 and 9 students, which was initiated in 2009. The program consists of a series of 30 lessons that were developed by Kings College in the UK and is delivered over two years. The program concentrates on teaching higher order thinking skills to students, and Pinjarra will be the first government school in WA to trial the program. Research shows that improving critical thinking skills at this year level will increase students’ level of performance in senior school. The UK study showed that students not only improved their scores in science but in other areas such as Mathematics and English, demonstrating that the thinking skills developed from such a framework are transferable to other areas of students’ lives. Improvement has already been observed in students’ understanding and the school has decided to continue with the program into 2010 with the next Year 8 cohort.
The program is also of benefit to the teacher population at Pinjarra Senior High School in that it focuses on new teaching techniques that require continual professional development. The University of Western Australia has hosted professional development workshops to support the program and their staff has visited the school to observe Thinking Science lessons in action and to provide feedback. Thus the program not only assists students but helps both pre-service and experienced teachers with new forms of instruction.
The wider community has been made aware of the program’s existence through Thinking Science presentations and community newsletters, and the initiative has been well received. The school regularly discusses the progress of the trial program with the University of Western Australia and monitors its risk matrix in regular meetings.
The results of this pilot program will also be important for other government schools in the region that are interested in the potential benefits of such a program. Pinjarra Senior High School’s commitment to and belief in the program is such that they have built the succession plan for the project into the general School Plan and science program.
