How important are experiments to exams?

In our last blog post, we discussed the state of science experiments in England’s schools but how about we talk about how important science experiments are getting a good grade. Each of the three sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) has an exam paper that is between 60 to 90 marks with, on average, 30-40% of these marks being based on science experiments, often referred to as “Required Practicals”.

During these “Required Practical” questions, students are either presented with a scenario and asked “How will you test this?” or be given an experiment set-up and asked how they would improve it with what kind of results they expect to get?

With the 135 qualified, secondary-school science teachers in England who were surveyed, 81.3% said they felt science experiments were VERY IMPORTANT in getting a good science GCSE grade. With those same teachers 71.6% said students should spend at least 30 minutes revising each experiment in order to get a good grade whereas 23.9% said students should spend at least one hour per experiment. 70.2% of those teachers said that students were only somewhat prepared in answering exam questions related to science experiments.

This is why STEM@Home was developed. As an experienced science teacher, I adamantly believe that being able to engage with the concepts in each science experiment along with understanding the process behind it can be the difference between a grade 8 and a grade 9. Sadly, many students do not have the chance to repeat or revise these practicals outside of lessons. This is why STEM@Home is trying to change the narrative on where, when and how students do their science experiments.

The vast majority of those teachers believed that parents CAN help students revise these experiments but the vast majority of the 150 parents we talked to said they felt unprepared and ill-equipped to help their children revise their science experiments.

Don’t you think we should be able to change this narrative? Can we EMPOWER parents to feel comfortable enough to help their children revise their science experiments?

Repeating science experiments can lead to better grades on exams. If your child is struggling in their science class, or just wants to achieve the best grades possible, consider using STEM@Home. Our products allows users to do their science experiments as many times as they want, outside of school. This extra practice can help your child understand and remember the material better, leading to improved test scores. With our easy-to-use interface and helpful tutorials, you and your child can work together to achieve any goal in science. What are you waiting for? Start exploring today!