Making accurate, manageable assessments of children's scientific understanding, skills and progress is one of the biggest challenges facing primary teachers. In Wales, where Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) at age 11 were phased out in 2005, teacher assessment has been the only source of pupil attainment data in science for a much longer period…

In the primary science department of an initial teacher training institute, it is the responsibility of educators to ensure that their students enter the education profession with the knowledge and confidence to deliver all areas of the National Curriculum in England programmes of study for science. The authors aim for their students to use…

Young children love to draw, and should be encouraged to explore drawing as a communication tool. Drawing is a means by which children can express their thoughts, interests and feelings, long before they learn to write. We know that: "children's drawings are vehicles for expression and communication" (Chang, 2012, p. 187). This form of…

Statistics and statistical literacy can be found in the Learning Areas of Mathematics, Geography, Science, History and the upcoming Business and Economics, as well as in the General Capability of Numeracy and all three Crosscurriculum priorities. The Australian Curriculum affords many exciting and varied entry points for the teaching of…

Learning is most effective when the scientific context used in the classroom is a transformed extension of the students' real world and so inspires students' intrinsic motivation, encouraging students to ask meaningful questions and seek their own answers through an inquiry or investigative approach. The Student Owned Learning Model (SOLM)…

There is a strong body of evidence that science was not taught consistently to primary-aged children across England and that their memories of science prior to 1989 centre around the "nature table." While secondary initial teacher education (ITE) before the National Curriculum had a strong subject focus, this was rarely the case for…

Discusses how teachers put together a science department portfolio of student work representing National Curriculum levels. (MKR)

The author's favourite film musical is "The King and I." Of the several catchy songs in the film her favourite is "Getting to know you," which is sung firstly by the governess to the children and then the children to her. The author hereby declares this to be "The Song of Science," with "you" being the "system" being studied (e.g. plant, elastic…

In this article, the author describes the educational potential of a garden project. When the opportunity to visit a school in Amsterdam arose as part of her primary science PGCE course, the author jumped at the chance to experience science learning in another country. The majority of teaching that took place was topic-based, and science was…

The author shares her personal view about when it is useful for children to record their work in science, what helps their learning, and what switches them off, describing some fairly common scenarios. In her role as an Ofsted inspector, the author is privileged to observe, talk to, and learn from dedicated, inspirational, and gifted teachers who…

Some of the projects designed to increase girls' uptake of physics are surveyed and some aspects of teaching physics in a girl-friendly way are presented. Possible reasons for the underrepresentation of girls in high school physics are discussed. The Girls into Science and Technology (GIST) and the Girls' Education in Mathematics, Science and…

Suggests that a major reappraisal of school science education in England and Wales is urgent and relevant to other nations' science education programs as well. Suggests that science instruction should be centered in technologies that will directly affect students' lives. Argues that science imparts values in spite of a reputation for neutrality.…

Reports on 18 months of action research that examined the effectiveness of using the history of science to promote British students' understanding of the nature of science. Both quantitative and interview data offer substantial evidence of a strategic movement away from serendipitous empiricism and toward an appreciation of the interactive nature…

This paper deals with a required methods course, based on the national curriculum of science and technology for junior high schools. The course participants are pre-service teachers who study towards a B.Sc. degree in education in science and technology parallel to their studies in one of the faculties of sciences or engineering. Working in small…

Provided is a perspective on the teaching of a unit on the Earth in space. The themes to be found within the unit, approaches and resources that can be used for teaching and learning the subject, and some of the typical ideas that children hold about astronomical subjects are provided. (KR)