Having made full use of FOSIL in its twin capacities of inquiry tool and essay planning structure, I am now approaching the point where every topic I teach in Year 12 and 13 Politics relies at some point on the framework. The final few UK Politics topics now require attention, before I turn my focus to the Global Politics part of the course for next September.
The most helpful and often-used resources, I have found, are the Investigative Journal, which I have adapted to a variety of different activities, and some form of Construct sheet, to organise thinking, homework or extracts into a clear comparative structure. My students have clearly benefitted from such a simple framework, and appreciate the learning-to-exam technique bridge it provides.
My rationale more recently has been to improve the delivery of topics that had previously been taught with little thought and an over-reliance on a pointless end-task. I was discovering a lack of knowledge retention and student confusion over how learning slotted into the scheme of work. Therefore, to boost motivation, improve essay structure, and incorporate greater variety of task, I am working with FOSIL expert Jenny Toerien on the following;
1. A research and peer-presentation inquiry on Devolution
2. A meaningful final task for our Pressure Group topic we started last year
3. A set of Construct and Investigate sheets to deliver Global Economic Governance and it’s related theories
If you are also trying to FOSIL-ise more of your teaching outside of the usual ‘inquiry project’ format, I’d be very interested to see how you move forward. I endeavour to update everyone on our progress in the coming weeks.
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