Hi, I was a Science teacher before! I read your post with great interest 🤗

I think the first question you have to ask yourself is: Do you think your students can ace their exams just by using their Science textbooks?

An extension of this question is: Do you think that your students should use the textbook as a central focus and turn to other resources (teacher’s notes, Koobits, notes from tuition centres, study guides purchased at Popular) to supplement their learning? Or are you of the philosophy that “All roads lead to Rome” and think that it’s okay for them to consolidate their learning with other resources first and use their textbook as a supplementary guide?

Your educational beliefs and understanding of your students’ needs will influence the way you prompt ChatGPT. If you suspect that some students never look at their textbooks at all, you may want to ask ChatGPT questions like “Can you suggest/summarise reasons why students turn to other resources instead of their Science textbook?”

I will also look into probing whether students are using their Science textbooks proactively or taking in information passively. The part about students taking notes and asking themselves question is great. Are there other best practices you think they should inculcate into their deliberate practice? When I taught P3-4 students, I always got them to highlight important keywords in their Science textbooks because I realised they might not be able to extract the key points for themselves yet. I also got them to refer to the Concept Maps found at the end of each chapter. Otherwise, I think most students just skip the Concept Maps, thinking that the summary is just a repetition of the content they have studied. But as Science teachers, we know that concept maps are an important tool for students to draw connections between ideas and across themes! I will thus ask ChatGPT more prompts about how students are using their textbooks.

Lastly, I don’t mind sharing that when I taught a class of P6 Foundation students, I ditched the Science textbooks because I just found them too content-heavy for my students. I subsequently painstakingly printed a copy of concept maps for ALL the topics, only to realise that the concept maps were still unwieldy for them. Driven to desperation, I not only wrote EXAM-ORIENTED study notes for them, but also used them in class, teaching them how to use my notes for revision. So, on the day of their PSLE Science paper, the invigilating teacher shared with me that several of them TOOK my notes to the exam room for one last burst of quick revision. Well, it was one of the most gratifying moments of my stint as a Science teacher haha.