Learning about the processes and practices of science is important if young people are to deal with the dilemmas posed by contemporary science such as GMOs and cloning. Pupils need to understand ideas such as the nature and limitations of scientific evidence; how scientists work to produce reliable knowledge; ideas of risk and more. Yet – what ideas should be taught and how? The new science National Curriculum has expanded what should be taught about science but there is a shortage of good materials and experience for teaching many of these topics. This project aims to help teachers with the two questions of ‘what should be taught?’ and ‘how should it be taught?’

In this project, we:

• surveyed the views of 23 experts drawn from scientists; science teachers; science educators; philosophers and sociologists; and people involved in the public understanding of science. Using three rounds of questionnaires, these experts helped us to determine what they think are the important ‘ideas-about-science’ that should be taught in the primary and secondary science curriculum. A report on this work will be published early next year.

We then:

• used the topics the experts considered important, working with 12 teachers of KS2, 3 and 4 to develop ‘lessons’ which focus on teaching particular aspects of the processes and practices of science. As well as developing new approaches, we built on existing teaching materials.
• Teachers were then asked to use the materials developed to teach at least eight ‘lessons’ over a period of two school terms with the same class. The outcomes of these lessons both for the teachers, and the pupils were evaluated systematically to see what evidence there was for successful learning.

For further information, contact Jonathan Osborne or Mary Ratcliffe

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