What?

Every GCSE science paper has some six-mark questions. They are designed as an opportunity for students to showcase their knowledge of a particular topic in a concise and well-structured passage of writing.

In Mark McNally’s class, 15 high-ability Year 10 science students (with predictions of As and A*s) were finding six-mark questions difficult, averaging a disappointing 3.4 marks when they practised them. Extra homework wasn’t helping, so McNally, pictured, decided to try peer-coaching to give his struggling students an opportunity to teach others how to write the perfect six-mark question.

Why?

These questions are hard because they demand a high level of scientific and linguistic skill. McNally believed that his pupils’ unsatisfying performance in six-mark questions was chiefly a result of poor literacy skills - but he also realised that attitude was a factor.

He gave pupils a questionnaire, which revealed that nearly all of them lacked confidence in answering six-mark questions. He decided to challenge them to communicate their knowledge and to develop their self-esteem.

How?

To begin with, McNally named his 15 top Year 10 students as coaches. He then created a planning sheet that showed each student how to split six-mark questions into topics, use key words and check for accurate spelling and grammar. He gave this to the coaches to study and use as teaching material.

All GCSE courses at the school are spread across three years, from Year 9 to Year 11. As such, McNally was able to give each Year 10 coach a group of two or three middle-ability Year 9 pupils who were working on six-mark questions. After the lesson, the Year 10 students answered one of these questions as an activity in their chemistry class.

The results

The average score achieved by the Year 10 students was 4.8, representing an increase of 80 per cent.

The Year 9 pupils did not take an exam, but they reported that being taught by pupils in the year above had benefited their learning as it was a novel and exciting experience.

The impact

All of McNally’s Year 10 students reported that they felt more confident about attempting six-mark questions after the coaching session.

Next year, McNally’s department intends to incorporate a programme of using Year 10 and 11 students to coach younger pupils throughout the GCSE course.

In his own class, McNally hopes to use the Year 10 cohort to coach pupils in their own year group - and eventually compare them with this study.

To find out more about the project, email Mark McNally at mcnallym@maghullhigh.com

To share your research findings, email william.martin@tesglobal.com