Project Summary:
Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science:
An AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust Project.
Helen Wilson, Jenny Mant
We are very grateful to the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust who so generously provided the funding for this research project, which ran in the academic years 2002 –2004.
The booklet, 'Creativity and Excitement in Science' gives a summary of this project in an attractive and accessible form. It costs £3, including postage and packing. If you would like a copy please email Helen Wilson at h.wilson@brookes.ac.uk
The background to the project
Many Year 6 (eleven year old) pupils in England spend a considerable percentage
of their science lessons revising and revisiting the facts that are considered
necessary to gain the expected grades in the national tests taken at the
end of their primary schooling, called Standard Assessment Tests (SATs).
Harrison (2001) points out that an increasing number of teachers are teaching
their Year 6 pupils to the science test and that they are teaching tips,
tricks and techniques to get children to achieve higher levels.
With such high stakes testing and the resulting published league tables of schools’ results, this situation is hardly surprising. However, our contention is that the implementation of a cognitively challenging and exciting curriculum in Year 6 science, rather than rote revision, is what leads to increased achievement and better SATs results.
In addition and, in our opinion, more importantly, it was anticipated that giving children opportunities to construct their own understanding would increase both the children’s enthusiasm for science and their engagement with the scientific process.
The project was therefore devised to encourage and to enable the participating teachers to develop a cognitively challenging curriculum in primary science. Year 6 was chosen as a focus partially because it would be possible to gauge any impact on the science Key Stage 2 SATs results.
Structure of the project
The project involved sixteen schools and two key teachers within each school
- the science co-ordinator and a Year 6 class teacher. The team was made
up of the three university researchers and the thirty-two participating
teachers. The team met for eight full days and four twilight sessions of
continuing professional development in the university spread out over the
year.
An inclusive model of provision was promoted throughout the sessions. The intention was that all the pupils would have access to an enriched learning environment, characterised by a high degree of conceptual challenge through discussion and practical work. Providing the whole class with challenging tasks and questions would then result in opportunities for all the pupils to demonstrate the depth of their thinking and understanding.
Key features of the approach
The research showed that key changes in the participant teachers’
science lessons were:
? More focused and purposeful recording by pupils, less writing
? Increased time spent in discussion of scientific ideas;
? More practical work and investigations;
? An increased emphasis on the encouragement of higher order thinking;
Focused recording
An important outcome was been the development of a new approach to the quantity
and type of recording required of the pupils in science lessons. Many of
the teachers previously required the pupils to record every step of an investigation
or to copy considerable chunks of writing from the board, which sometimes
resulted in a large part of the science lesson being taken up by writing.
Alternative means of recording have been considered, such as asking the
pupils to record only one particular part of an investigation, using digital
photographs to record practical work and generally being as creative as
possible. As a rule of thumb, the teachers themselves agreed that no more
than twenty minutes should be spent writing in a two-hour lesson. One of
the Year 6 pupils made the telling comment that ‘there is more learning
and less writing’.
The more focused recording has released time in lessons for the doing of science and the discussion of the big ideas.
Pupil discussion
In ‘Challenges in Primary Science’ (Coates and Wilson, 2003),
the introduction of a short ‘Bright Ideas’ slot into primary
science lessons is suggested. This involves a whole class discussion and
need not take more than ten minutes. Asking the pupils to ‘think,
pair and then share’ for this slot encourages them to take time to
think and generally improves the depth of their answers, as well as increasing
their participation and involvement. All the project teachers used this
strategy extensively.
Practical work
The fact that the pupils spent more time doing practical and investigative
science was well received and there was also evidence that the pupils realised
the benefits for their own learning:
‘If you’re just told to write something, but if you find
out something first and then report it, then you learn.’ ’
Within the freer atmosphere, the pupils also became more independent in
their ability to suggest and perform investigations.
‘They now suggest investigations knowing that sometimes their
ideas will be followed through. I feel free to let them do this.’
Higher order thinking
Primary science teaching is sometimes seen as ‘content driven’
and it is salutary to pause and wonder if the weight of the curriculum is
such that there may be little time for the children to think hard because
there is so much work to be done. An alternative view is to think of the
content of the science curriculum as an ideal springboard for the encouragement
of higher order thinking. The approach adopted throughout the project was
that of infusion, i.e. the development of thinking skills through the normal
science curriculum.
Evaluation
The project was evaluated in a number of ways, including the effect on the
pupils’ attitudes, the teachers’ attitudes and the Key Stage
2 science SATs results.
The data showed that the pupils’ enjoyment of science had increased in the project year, as had their engagement. It was encouraging to find that the teachers too were finding their science teaching more enjoyable and rewarding.
In the year before the project, the results from the project schools were
very similar to the national average. The total number of Year 6 pupils
involved in the project was 412 and the percentages of the pupils within
the project and nationally attaining level 5 at the end of the year (2003)
were as follows:
% of pupils in project attaining level 5 = 53%
% of pupils nationally attaining level 5 = 41%
The change from the previous year in the percentage of children in each intervention school achieving level 5 was compared with a matched control school and it was proven that the increased achievement was statistically significant.
Summary
In summary, the increased focus required of the pupils in their recording
reduced the time that they spent writing and this gave space for more discussion
and practical work. The ongoing emphasis on higher order thinking has increased
the level of challenge for all the pupils involved.
More creative and cognitively challenging science lessons led to improved
SATs results and, more importantly, to teachers and pupils who were enthusiastic
about the subject and who enjoyed thinking about it in depth. In the words
of one pupil:
‘That was good, you had to think a lot more … it makes science
much more fun.’
References
Coates, D. & Wilson, H. (2003) Challenges in Primary Science: Meeting
the Needs of Able Young Scientists at Key Stage 2. London: NACE/ Fulton
Publication
Harrison, S. ( 2001) SATs and the QCA Standards Report in Primary Science
Review 68, May/June 2001. Association for Science Education
