The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for practical teaching within the sciences. While many instructors adopted innovative alternatives to conventional practicals, many relied on digital approaches that did not give students hands-on experience. In this study we evaluate the use of 'at home' practical kits used in first year physics…

The mass shift to Open-Book, Open-Web (OBOW) assessments during the pandemic highlighted new opportunities in Higher Education for developing accessible, authentic assessments that can reduce administrative load. Despite a plethora of research emerging on the effectiveness of OBOW assessments within disciplines, few currently evaluate their…

This edited volume brings together a state-of-the-art collection of leading and emergent research on the burgeoning topic of science identities. It sets out how science identity can be productively used as a lens in understanding patterns and inequalities in science participation across different educational and international contexts. Its…

Background: Knowledge of quantum computing is arguably inaccessible to many, with knowledge of the complex mathematics involving a particular barrier to entry, creating difficulty in terms of teaching and inclusive learning for those without a high level of mathematics. Meanwhile, it is increasingly important that the knowledge of quantum…

Biological organisms function as the result of a multitude of complex physical systems all interacting with one another at different length scales and over different time scales. At stages of education below university undergraduate level, this complexity often prevents the discussion of physics within a biological context, subtly implying that…

The CERN Beamline for Schools Competition gives high school students the opportunity to perform an experiment of their design using the T9 facility. Our team, 'Relatively Special', was fortunate enough to be joint winners of this global event and travel to CERN for a unique adventure. This paper gives an account of our story including the…

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…

We provide a design for a low cost orientable search coil that can be used to investigate the variation of magnetic flux with angle. This experiment is one of the required practical activities in the current A level physics specification for the AQA examination board in the UK. We demonstrate its performance and suggest other suitable…

The Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) was set up to give science students the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research projects. Teachers and students can access data and equipment that enable them to tackle real-life issues. As a result, not only do students gain in confidence and experience in their scientific work, they are also able…

This article is the second of a two-part series that explores science teachers' and their pupils' experiences of using different pedagogical approaches based on understandings of how brains learn. Part 1 (Torrance Jenkins, 2017) focused on the two approaches rooted in cognitive psychology: Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and Cognitive Acceleration…

In this article, newly qualified teacher (NQT) Alexander Odeneal shares some ideas that primary teachers could use to capture pupils' interest and support scientific discussions. The article offers four different activities and an explanation of why they do what they do to support the non-specialist teacher leading the lesson. Each activity…

In the traditional approach to constructing a GCSE or A Level examination paper, a single person writes the whole paper. In some other contexts, tests are constructed by selecting questions from a bank of questions. In this research, we asked experts to evaluate the quality of Physics exam papers constructed in the traditional way, constructed by…

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) is widely used to investigate the effect of education level on conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics but has only recently been scrutinized for gender effects and retention. This study examines both the gender gap in first year physics undergraduates compared to the gap for nonphysicists and the FCI…

As humanity reaches the 5.0 industrial revolution, education plays a critical role in boosting the quality of human resources. This paper reports bibliometric research on emerging TiP during 1993-2022 in the educational field to analyse its development on any level of education during the last three decades. This study employed a Scopus database.…

This paper describes the results of a comparative study into the approaches used by science undergraduates when solving open-ended problems. This study adopted a pseudo-grounded theory framework to analyse six case studies, one from each of the science disciplines studied. The study involved 70 participants from 5 institutions solving open-ended…