In this article, Helen Spring explains how a 'wow' activity is a great place to start learning outside the classroom. It will enthuse both children and staff. Teachers new to outdoor learning can start with something simple like having students use double-sided sticky tape to collect as many colours as they can from the school grounds. Then look…

This research project uses the methods of Crowder and Callinan and Sharp to assess year one children's (age 5-6) personal understanding of scientific concepts. This research project uses video recording as a primary resource of data collection within a case study approach using a participant observer method. Analysis supports the work of Crowder…

The setting: the science classroom. The characters: you and your students. The scene: Your students acting out scientific discoveries, modeling a frog's life cycle, mimicking the transition from liquid to solid. This is "dramatic science", a teaching approach that uses acting techniques to explore and develop young children's ideas about…

The recently fashionable theories of positive psychology have educational ramifications at virtually every level of engagement, culminating in the model of positive education. In this critical review, I scrutinize positive education as a potential theory in educational psychology. Special attention is given to conceptual controversies and…

This study explored the effects of a cognitive intervention program, Cognitive Acceleration in Science at Key Stage 1 (CASE@KS1), on both the thinking skills and motivation of a rural population in the United Kingdom. It used a quasi-experimental design and measures of both near and far transfer in order to replicate the evaluation of this program…