ASE 2027 Annual Conference

Science teachers are increasingly working with students who encounter AI-generated information every day, both inside and outside school. From chatbot explanations to AI-generated revision materials and scientific imagery, young people are already navigating a world where information can appear authoritative while containing inaccuracies, misconceptions or fabricated content. This session argues that AI literacy belongs within science education because scientific thinking provides one of the strongest frameworks for evaluating AI-generated information critically and responsibly.

This interactive workshop will explore how KS3 science classrooms can support students in developing critical disciplinary literacy in response to the growing influence of generative AI. Rather than focusing on specific tools or software, the session will examine how existing approaches in science education, including evidence evaluation, identifying misconceptions, questioning claims, and communicating scientific ideas accurately, can help students engage thoughtfully with AI-generated content.
The session also considers the increasing importance of supporting students to critically engage with misinformation, disinformation and misleading online content, including scientific conspiracy claims and AI-generated inaccuracies encountered beyond the classroom.

Participants will leave with:
a clearer understanding of the implications of generative AI for science education;
practical classroom strategies for developing critical AI literacy through science;
approaches for helping students evaluate scientific claims and information critically;
increased confidence in discussing AI, accuracy, misinformation and scientific communication within KS3 science contexts;
ideas for embedding AI literacy within existing science curricula and pedagogical approaches.

This session will look at two specific EEF guidance reports in detail with a physics-specific lens: Improving Secondary Science and Effective Professional Development. We will draw on a wider evidence-base concerning the challenges of adult behaviour change and its influence on improving teacher practice. This session will consider individual and organisational impact and will be relevant to teachers and leaders of physics.

Background: The Ogden Trust has worked closely with Durrington Research School and The EEF on the Working Through Others programme, a new pillar of The EEF's impact work focused on developing and delivering evidence-informed practice. The results of this collaboration have informed The Ogden Trust's new strategy and programme development.

Most teachers have been confronted in the classroom by a "chemical grenade" - a question from a pupil that may or may not have been intended to cause damage, but which was also both hard to answer and very interesting, often just touching the edges of the syllabus.  

By sharing some of the most interesting chemical grenades from my teaching, I hope to outline an approach to answering these questions in the pursuit of developing teachers' chemistry knowledge and ability to explain abstract concepts from physical an inorganic chemistry at GCSE and A-level in a "rigorous but hand waving" way that pupils might appreciate.  

Some grenades to be considered, most drawn from A-level pupils, include: "When an equilibrium responds to an increase in pressure, does the pressure ever return to its old value?", "If copper complexes are coloured because of d-d transitions, why don't they just re-emit the light they absorbed?", "How do chiral molecules rotate plan polarised light differently when they are randomly oriented?", "Why doesn't adding a solid to an equilibrium mixture change the position of equilibrium?"  

I hope to show that working out the answers to these questions, and then how to present the answer to pupils, can be tricky, but also leads to a better understanding of the chemistry being taught.

This session explores how to make primary science teaching engaging and relevant by connecting new learning to prior knowledge and building progression across key stages. It considers the importance of purposeful practical work, where activities have a clear learning focus and are explicitly linked to scientific concepts.

The session also explores how meaningful primary science can be hands-on, curiosity-driven and connected to real-world contexts and pupils’ experiences, helping children see science as relevant to their lives and the wider world.