SCOPE presents science in a fun and engaging way. It can be a great way to

• introduce students to a topic
• generate discussion
• round off a unit of work.

SCOPE also makes a fun but educationally sound activity for the end of term or a wet Friday afternoon!

Most episodes of SCOPE include:

• an introduction to or overview of the topic presented by a scientist or expert
• a hands-on activity (the instructions are also on the website)
• several stories presented by scientists or other experts, which relate to the episode theme (including at least one story about cutting edge research)
• a ‘break it down’ segment about a fundamental part of the episode theme, such as a chemical element or hormone.

Your librarian or IT support person may be able to arrange to tape SCOPE episodes for you. (Don’t forget the repeats at 8.00 am on Saturday mornings!)

If you are seeking a specific episode, most schools can purchase them from Enhance TV.

Here are some ways you could use SCOPE in your classroom.

Introducing a topic

1. Select an episode that relates to your topic. Think laterally – for example, the theme park science episode is a great introduction to Newton’s laws.
2. Watch the whole episode in class, or watch the clips from the website.
3. Then as a class, use the information in the episode to construct a mind map on the board or on butcher’s paper to clarify the concepts and ideas covered in the episode.
4. In small groups, ask students to choose one of the web links on the episode webpage and find another five pieces of information per group about an aspect of the topic. Add these to the mind map.
5. Discuss the mind map with students and together highlight areas of the mind map that students would like to know more about and/or that you will cover in your unit of work.
6. Show students where the hands-on activity fits in the mind map then ask them to complete it in class, or set it as a homework exercise, as an introduction to some of the hands-on aspects of the topic.
7. Refer to and update the mind map as you progress through your standard unit of work.

Generating discussion

1. Select an episode that has a controversial or topical theme. Examples include genetics, water, climate change and renewable energy.
2. Watch the first story from that episode. Generally the first story in each episode provides a broad overview of or introduction to the subject matter.
3. Clarify any points about the basic science of the subject matter, using the links on the episode webpage for more information.
4. Watch the remaining stories from the episode.
5. Ask students to nominate one or more aspects of the theme on which people might have different opinions. For example, the water episode might bring up aspects such as recycling water, hydro-electric power, how to reduce water use, water restrictions.
6. Ask students to work in small groups to research these aspects and prepare a presentation for the rest of the class. They must explain both sides of the debate. Students can use the links on the episode web page to help with their research.
7. If you have time, select one aspect as a topic for a debate or set up a class exercise such as a mock trial or classroom parliament.
8. As a fun finish, have students complete the hands-on activity from that episode.

Rounding off a unit

1. At the end of your unit of work, select an episode that relates to the topic.
2. Show the episode to the class twice. The first time, the students should just watch the episode. The second time, they should make notes about the different stories in the episode.
3. Divide the students into small groups and assign one story to each group. The groups should use what they’ve learnt in the unit to explain the story in their own words. They might like to create a short presentation about the subject of their story.
4. Ask students to write their own SCOPE story about some aspect of what they’ve learned in the unit. They can invent a ‘specialist’ to do the talking, and could even invent some new futuristic research in the area – but it should be based on real science!
5. If you have the facilities, why not allow the students to film their story in the style of SCOPE then present it to the rest of the school? Otherwise, ask the students to present their story in front of the class as if it were on TV.