This is the third special issue of "Primary Science," and it is one that offers primary school teachers an insight into an initiative that does wonders for primary science leadership, learning and teaching -- the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM). In this article, Shaun Wingrove describes the transformation from dull to shiny science…

This study has been carried out with the aim of evaluating the Curriculum of Elementary School Third Grade Science Course, which has been implemented for the first time in the academic year of 2014-2015, based on the views of teachers. The general screening model has been employed in the study. This research has been conducted with the…

Classroom actions rely, among other things, on teaching habits and traditions. Previous research has clarified three different teaching traditions in science education: the academic tradition builds on the idea that simply the products and methods of science are worth teaching; the applied tradition focuses on students' ability to use scientific…

A novel laboratory curriculum is presented, developed around some common tasks of a laboratory researcher in chemistry: purification, synthesis, and measurement. The capstone of the sequence is an integrated laboratory, leading to a more independent research experience. Students who have completed this laboratory curriculum appear to perform…

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the possibility of tapping traditional games as motivational activities that can aid in the teaching of the sciences in the K-12 curriculum and eventually will help learners increase their interest as well as performance in science. Method: This study is a qualitative research that aims to gather an in-depth…

Assessment is one of the key elements in the development of the curriculum since it forms a cycle of interdependence with the other curricular areas (content, methods, etc.). This work presents the changes detected in the conceptions about assessment in science that a sample of 311 prospective primary teachers had before and after a training…

In this article, we argue for a new rationale for the science curriculum that is more coherent and more useful than the crosscutting concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In an effort to provide both clarity and justification for the science curriculum, we contend that a framework based on the idea that there are six…

The Curriculum of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) has implications for the Curriculum of the 9-year Basic Education (BEC) programme in Nigeria. Hence the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) came up with a vision of producing well motivated teachers with high professional integrity and competence. Both the in-service and…

Constructing Direct Current (DC) electric circuits is simple and engaging for primary students, but that is not all there is to learning about electricity. Mandatory learning in the Australian Curriculum: Science (ACARA, 2018) expects Year 6 students to explain some of the processes underlying electric circuits. The abstract nature of key…

A teaching approach based on the Biggs and Collis SOLO taxonomy is described. Lessons were planned using the SOLO taxonomy to communicate how students could demonstrate increasing complexity of response to scientific questions. Consideration is given to extending the use of the SOLO taxonomy to create a relational curriculum, which may be useful…

This article presents a case study of "the aspirin unit," a curriculum unit from an advanced chemistry class in a neighborhood high school in a large US city. The extended case method is applied to analyze this curriculum within the larger US political context that criminalizes youth of color. Data sources include retrospective…

This paper reports an empirical study of teacher development in the process of implementing an integrated science curriculum in a junior high school in China. Six science teachers with different subject backgrounds were invited to participate in this study. A pragmatic model of teacher learning that includes both cognitive and situated-learning…

This study aimed to reveal the extent to which citizenship values are included in Saudi Arabian elementary science textbooks, which teachers have to use. The content of six grades 4 to 6 textbooks used in the first and second semesters was analyzed with a focus on three themes related to citizenship values: cultural, social, and political…

Science instruction reform efforts call for increased opportunities for students to engage with science content and practices. School-based citizen science (CS), when implemented well, addresses this call and provides a meaningful context for student learning. Despite CS projects' increasing role in formal science instruction, research on the…

We report on findings from a qualitative study of Australian scientists whose work brings them into contact with the public. This research sought to understand how a school science curriculum could better represent the work of scientists today. We discuss the views expressed by our participant scientists about the importance of openness and…