EEF has just published, Improving Primary Science, its guidance report on how to improve science teaching for those teaching five to 11-year-olds. It is based on a systematic review of the best available evidence from international research and the guidance of an expert panel.
The report provides schools, subject leaders and teachers with the following six practical recommendations about how to improve primary science teaching.
Develop pupils’ scientific vocabulary
Encourage pupils to explain their thinking, whether verbally or in written form
Guide pupils to work scientifically
Relate new learning to relevant, real-world contexts
Use assessment to support learning and responsive teaching
Strengthen teaching through effective professional development as part of an implementation process
For each recommendation, the report identifies approaches for implementing it as well as an illustration of the challenge faced by teachers that includes examples of what might work in the classroom.
The report states that, “The recommendations should be considered together, however, you should also reflect on how they align with your school’s specific circumstances and implement them accordingly using you own professional judgement.” Below we have attempted to identify resources or sources of support that will help schools, subject leaders and teachers implement the recommendations, where appropriate.
Develop pupils’ scientific vocabulary
For this recommendation, the report highlights two approaches for implementing it:
identifying science-specific vocabulary
explicitly teaching new vocabulary and its meaning, creating opportunities for repeated engagement and use over time.
The PLAN Knowledge Matrices identify the new science-specific vocabulary for each topic in each year-group and the PLAN Progression in Vocabulary provides subject leaders with a progression in the vocabulary for each topic from Nursery to Year 6. Both these resources support the first of these approaches.
To support the explicit teaching of the new vocabulary and its meaning, and create repeated opportunities over time for pupils to use it, the PLAN Vocabulary Posters (£10 per year-group) could be an effective resource. Not only do they provide a useful aide-memoire for pupils of the new science-specific vocabulary for the topic they are currently learning - so they can be reminded to use it in their discussions or writing - but they also feature the vocabulary from previous year-groups and topics that link to the current topic which can be used to check prior learning and provide opportunities for repeated engagement with that vocabulary over time.
Encourage pupils to explain their thinking, whether verbally or in written form
For this recommendation, the report highlights three effective approaches:
create a collaborative learning environment
capitalise on the power of dialogue
cultivate reasoning and justification.
There are some excellent resources that support the implementation of these approaches. The example in the report, for this recommendation, refers to ‘concept cartoons’ which put forward a range of viewpoints about the science involved in everyday situations, including common misconceptions, and encourage pupils to discuss the different viewpoints and explain their thinking. Explorify is another excellent source of activities that support the development of a collaborative learning environment and stimulate dialogue and reasoning.
Our Questioning Strategies document (written by Owain Cleary, Science Lead at Salusbury Primary School) helps teachers choose the right questioning strategy at the right time in science lessons and includes examples of different question starters to use in the classroom. It supports teachers to plan questions where:
pupils and teachers are equal in the discussion, so they can explore pupils’ everyday ideas and misconceptions
the teacher is the expert and is scaffolding, assessing or stretching pupils’ learning.
Guide pupils to work scientifically
For this recommendation, the report highlights a single approach:
explicitly teach the knowledge and skills required to work scientifically, guiding pupils to apply this in practice, with opportunities for discussion and reflection.
We have produced an animation that subject leaders may find useful to help teachers understand the relationship between the working scientifically skills and the scientific enquiry process. Once teachers are clear about this relationship, there are a couple of resources that can be used to build teachers knowledge of the working scientifically skills and the scientific enquiry types that will support their teaching of them.
The first resource is Using the 10 Science Skills for Planning and Assessment. This document distils the working scientifically statements in the National Curriculum in England into 10 science skills that can be used as learning intentions during lessons and shared with pupils, so they develop a common language for talking about how they work as scientists. To support assessment, the document links the science skills back to the National Curriculum’s working scientifically statements so formative assessment from lessons can be collated to make summative judgments.
The second resource is the PLAN Scientific Enquiry Types – Definitions, which is a PowerPoint presentation that provides clear definitions of the five types of scientific enquiry set out in the National Curriculum. It also provides examples of scientific enquiry questions to illustrate each definition. If teachers require more support with the scientific enquiry types, there is a 90-minute PLAN Scientific Enquiry Types CPD (£40) which provides subject leaders with a ready-made CPD session that they can deliver to their colleagues to develop their understanding of the different types of scientific enquiry.
Finally, the great challenge with the working scientifically content in the National Curriculum is tracking coverage of it. There are a couple of resources that schools can use to support teacher to do this. We have two trackers:
a Working Scientifically Coverage Sheet which enables teachers to record their coverage of the National Curriculum working scientifically skills statements across the topics for their year-group
a Working Scientifically Skills Progression & Tracker Sheet that provides teachers with the progression of working scientifically skills through the key stages and across the five types of scientific enquiry and includes a tracker sheet to use to monitor coverage when planning.
If you feel that your colleagues need further support with covering the working scientifically skills, you might want to consider using the PLAN Working Scientifically: Planning Coverage CPD (£20-£50). This is a ready-made CPD that you can deliver yourself that helps teachers become more familiar with the working scientifically statements in the National Curriculum and enables them to reflect on whether they are covering the full range of these skills adequately in their planning.
Relate new learning to relevant, real-world contexts
For this recommendation, the report highlights two approaches:
consider real-world contexts
engage with science concepts, supported by virtual models.
A good source of support for schools in how to relate new learning to relevant, real-world contexts for your pupils is the Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach. A key aspect of the Approach is personalising and localising the teaching of science, i.e. making science relevant to the everyday lives of the pupils in your class.
Use assessment to support learning and responsive teaching
For this recommendation, the report highlights three approaches:
plan teaching that builds on existing knowledge and experience
monitor pupils’ learning to improve responsive teaching, feedback and next steps
summarise what pupils have learnt against planned criteria.
Our Assessment in Primary Science guidance supports subject leaders to reflect on the purpose and processes of science assessment and includes a range of resources to support the implementation of effective practice.
The PLAN Knowledge Matrices provide the prior learning for each topic in each year-group, as well as the key learning for it. This supports teachers to plan lessons that build on the existing knowledge of their pupils. They also include examples of possible activities that enable pupils to learn or apply the key learning and examples of possible evidence that would indicate whether pupils are secure in it. Together, these support teachers to monitor their pupils’ learning and adapt their planning in response to what that tells them.
The PLAN Examples of Work provide teachers with the work of a pupil who meets the requirements of the knowledge statements for each topic in each year-group. This supports teachers to make summative judgements about whether their pupils are secure in the required knowledge or not and, if not, provide additional opportunities for those who aren’t to gain the necessary knowledge.
Schools that wish to moderate the assessment judgements being made across their school may wish to consider using the PLAN Knowledge: Moderating Assessment CPD (£20-£60) which enables science subject leaders to deliver an hour's CPD to their colleagues that models a robust process for moderating the assessment of pupils’ knowledge and then get teachers to apply that to the work of their own class and use the results to identify activities to consolidate the knowledge for the pupils who are not yet secure.
Strengthen teaching through effective professional development as part of an implementation process
For this recommendation, the report highlights three approaches:
use a range of information to identify development priorities and professional learning needs
consider factors of high quality professional development to plan or evaluate provision
reflect on senior leadership support at the strategic to classroom level.
Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) provides a great framework to support subject leaders to identify their school’s development priorities and professional learning needs. It requires senior leadership support to participate in PSQM which provides the opportunity for senior leaders to reflect on science both strategically and in the classroom.
We couldn’t end this section without saying that, if you are looking to strengthen the teaching of science in your school through consultancy or training that demonstrates all the features of high-quality professional development, then that is what we offer and have been delivering for school across England for over a decade. If you would like to discuss your requirements, please contact us to find our how we can help.