Wednesday, 14 February 2024

#238: Watkins and Doncaster

Watkins and Doncaster are a firm that many schools are likely to be in touch with when they are preparing to teach the new GCSE Natural History specification for the first time.

Any school planning to offer the GCSE Natural History will probably need to purchase a range of equipment for some of the skills and fieldwork elements - if those are retained from the original consultation. It is unlikely that many will have everything they need for the new specification. This is also one additional 'cost' involved for schools which want to offer the new specification and which might therefore prevent some colleagues who might want to be involved from being able to add it to the subjects they offer.

Here's the wording from the original consultation document, which is only advisory and not the final text of course.

Safe use of techniques for monitoring/detecting organisms. For example: Longworth traps, moth traps, camera traps, satellite tags, methods for monitoring reptiles, using photographs, bat detectors, bird ringing, etc. Use of indirect evidence (e.g. signs, tracks, landscape analysis) Use of Identification charts

They will need some equipment for fieldwork and also to train students in the techniques they need - the teachers will need to upskill themselves first of all, so liaison between biologists, geographers and others will be essential...



The firm sells some useful equipment for entomological work (insects) and geology.

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