In this article, Jude Penny and Colin Forster explore what makes a good question and how this links with developing science capital. This article outlines research that was undertaken with primary student teachers at the University of Gloucestershire, focusing on the development of their ability to deploy an appropriate number of carefully chosen…

From the earliest days of their lives, children are exposed to all kinds of sound, from soft, comforting voices to the frightening rumble of thunder. Consequently, children develop their own naïve explanations largely based upon their experiences with phenomena encountered every day. When new information does not support existing conceptions,…

In their recent review of special educational needs in schools, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF, 2020) highlights the fact that teaching strategies that are known to work well for mainstream learners are also likely to be effective for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In this article, the authors explain how…

Questioning is a central practice in science classrooms. However, not every question translates into a "good" science investigation. Questions that drive science investigations can be provided by many sources including the teacher, the curriculum, or the student. The variations in the source of investigation questions were explored in…

University of Virginia, like many other universities, has developed a chemistry outreach program (called Chemistry Learning through Experimentation, Awareness, and Demonstration; i.e., Chemistry LEAD) that visits K-5 schools and teaches inquiry-based chemistry lessons in order to engage local students with science. Chemistry LEAD is graduate…

In this article, we present the results of an implementation of a teaching-learning sequence that offered the opportunity to increase preservice elementary teachers' engagement with authentic activities in meteorology. In particular, we describe the results of a teaching-learning sequence with regard to the representation of winds on weather maps…

Often unheard of unless you are of a certain age and remember audio and video cassettes, BASF are a multinational business with a large chemical site in Bradford, West Yorkshire. On the BASF site is a 'Kids' Lab' that forms part of BASF's educational outreach work. In this article, Leigh Hoath and five teachers from Bradford schools outline a…

Teacher-student discourse continues to be teacher-centred even though researchers and reform documents have recommended changes toward increased levels of student-centred discourse. In science education this situation is paralleled by effort to make scientific inquiry more student-centred. The purpose of this study was to investigate how discourse…

Cross-community collaboration which expands community members' interaction to a larger social scale plays a crucial role in increasing information exchange and extending inquiry learning. This dissertation uses a design-based research approach which aims at testing a multi-level emergence design in multiple learning communities. This design serves…

In this article, Juliet Nickels explores the importance of content and exploration in a child- and enquiry-led curriculum. During British Science Week, Nickels runs science week at Coten End Primary School, culminating in an exhibition. Leading up to the school's science week in 2015, she ran staff meetings to clarify purpose and logistics, and…

Recent reform efforts in science education have brought scientific literacy to researchers' attention. Researchers have been searching for new instructional models to engage students' variety of scientific practices to fulfil the requirements of scientific literacy. Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) is a novel instructional model that integrates the…

Background: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a global network of data-sensing devices which pupils can access during science or other curriculum activities. Purpose: This article reports on a commissioned evaluation of a small-scale pilot project to explore the potential of the IoT combined with local sensors to enhance pupils' data interpretation…

After spending most of the day in school, children are typically given additional assignments to be completed at home. The author and colleagues developed a series of science homework tasks for use in primary schools. The difference with these homework tasks, however, was that they were pencil-free: no blank spaces for the children to fill in and…

Makerspaces provide a viable option for constructing and sharing knowledge in schools. Inherent in the designing, tinkering, and playing that learners engage in through making are competencies, such as the ability to create, problem solve, and innovate, decreed as critical by education policymakers. This paper summarizes results from a study in a…

One of the guiding principles highlighted in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012) states that "children are born investigators," claiming that students construct their own understanding of the natural world even before they learn about it in formal learning settings. Even if students lack a thorough…