Nature Friendly Schools (NFS) is a groundbreaking project funded by the UK Department for Education and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with support from Natural England. It works in partnership with many organisations including the Wildlife Trusts, Young Minds and the Field Studies Council. By developing teachers'…

There is broad agreement in the literature (e.g. Furtak et al., 2012; Harlen and Qualter, 2018) that the purpose of primary science is for children to develop: (1) scientific skills; (2) knowledge and understanding of some scientific concepts; (3) positive attitudes to science; an understanding of the nature of science; and (4) an appreciation of…

The author created a project aimed to develop and implement the assessment of working scientifically (WS) skills at Victoria Park Primary School. The author had previously identified a gap in the curriculum coverage and assessment of WS skills and his goal was to address the lack of provision for assessing children's WS skills and raise the…

For some scientific ideas, it is obvious to pupils as to why they are studied. For others, a bit more work is needed before their significance becomes apparent. The concept of 'historical significance', which is used in history teaching, can help children to appreciate the enduring importance of scientific discoveries and events. The pedagogic…

One of the aims of primary education, as suggested by the Cambridge Primary Review, should be, 'Exploring, knowing, understanding and making sense'. It should give the children 'the opportunity to encounter, explore and engage with the wealth of human experience and the different ways through which humans make sense of the world and act upon it'.…

Discovery sessions are usually based around a stimulus that the teacher has set up. When children are all doing something similar, watching what happens, talking about the science that is going on, the teacher has a way in to learn about their understanding, but then the teacher can take it deeper into exploring their skills in working…

Linking Education and Farming (LEAF) Education uses food, farming and nature to reach out to children in new and imaginative ways across the science curriculum. Their work at a grass roots level, with teachers, children and farmers, shows just how powerful farming and nature can be in helping develop a lifelong love for science and fuelling…

Philosophy is concerned with fundamental questions about knowledge, truth, reality, experience, justice and what is right and wrong. In this article, the authors discuss how philosophy and science can be taught together in the primary classroom.

The author relates their involvement in the process of testing a picture storybook to teach science concepts. The project asked: If children were learning through a story where the science content was explicit, would children be able to explain the science in the context of the story and then in real-world contexts? Would the learning become…

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…

A great deal has been written about the huge benefits to children of learning through the context of stories. Some scientific concepts can be difficult for children to understand if they cannot see or experience them. Stories help bring the concepts to life, making them more meaningful, increasing engagement and often providing a more fun…

Children often have very stereotyped views of science and scientists, far removed from their own lives. Getting children to 'become' scientists and feel that they are actually "doing" science, being involved in something pertinent to them and their environment, is a goal of modern science teaching. This article aims to illustrate how…

The "Primary SPACE Project Research Report: Sound" (Watt and Russell, 1990) provides interesting reading relating to primary-aged children's concepts of sound. It reveals a range of children's views on how sound is made, how sounds are heard and how sound travels. While some children are shown to have knowledge that sounds travel and are…

In 2014, evolution through natural selection was introduced to the primary science National Curriculum in England for year 6 (ages 10-11). As teachers had little prior experience of teaching this concept, it provided a rare opportunity to study the effectiveness of different approaches. A study was developed to investigate the impact of…

It can be hugely beneficial for teachers to 'buy in' an expert for a day in an area that they are focusing on. Children are inspired by a special visitor and it can provide a new perspective to a topic and invigorate and extend learning. The variety of workshops and visitors available is astonishing. Students can be transported to outer space or…