We explore the professional identities of UK-based secondary science teachers who actively participated in science research for at least six months. The study uses thematic analysis to analyse semi-structured interviews with 17 participants across England and Scotland, from a variety of educational/socio-economic contexts. We found that through…

Involving students in state-of-the-art research from an early age eliminates the idea that science is only for the scientists and empowers young people to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. It is also a great opportunity to dispel harmful stereotypes about who is suitable for STEM careers, while leaving students…

Can school students get their science research published? Here, we report on an exciting partnership between The Royal Society and "Young Scientists Journal" ("YSJ"), which is written and edited entirely by students aged 12-20. As background, we explore the history and importance of science publishing and the origin of YSJ. The…

The article argues that science assessment should change from an item-driven to a construct-driven practice and pay more attention to disciplinary scientific reasoning. It investigates assessment scales developed from a novel theoretical rationale, describing scientific reasoning as three fundamental practices (hypothesizing, experimenting, and…

Finite element modelling software has been used to allow secondary school students to study nanoscale magnetic materials for hard drive recording applications. The students were introduced to the basic concepts of finite element modelling using a freely available internet game before modelling the magnetization reversal of single magnetic grains.…