Evolution offers an intellectually satisfying and extremely well-supported explanation for the diversity of life in the natural world, its similarities and differences, how changes occur and how new life forms have developed. There are plenty of reasons to anticipate the teaching of evolution with exhilaration. In recent years, the issue of…

Student teachers, Katherine Bagshaw, Hannah Barham, Rebecca Betts, Amie Felton and Joshua Knatt, share their ideas on how to bridge the gap between statutory and non-statutory guidelines for food and nutrition with 8- to 10-year-olds. The teachers realized the health of children has become a focal point of concern for both parents and education…

Teaching children about circuits and the way electricity works is a "tricky business" because it is invisible. Just imagine all eyes are on the teacher as he or she produces for the class what looks like a ping-pong ball and then, with a wave of their hand, the incredible happens! This wonderful white sphere begins to glow red and a…

Electricity can be a fun topic in a primary school class. It includes many practical experiments and links to real life contexts. However, teachers can feel daunted by the subject as they think they do not know enough about the science behind it to answer off-topic questions. The reason for the difficulty is that much of the science takes place…

In practice, in the classroom, teachers are still faced with the issue of what to say to children if they believe that evolution conflicts with their own or other people's religious faith. When asked how they plan to respond, most teacher trainees and teachers respond that they will be a neutral chair and try to give children a balanced view.…

During a recent theme on "Ourselves," Laura Mooney's class focused on height and looking at similarities and differences between a range of objects. This involved not only looking at each other, but also linked to their self-portrait development, where they had been learning about their facial features and comparing them to other…

The primary Communities of Scientific Enquiry project is one element of the outreach work in Science in Society in Biomedical Sciences in partnership with the School of Education at the University of Ulster. The project aims to develop scientific understanding and skills at key stage 2 and is a response to several contemporary issues in primary…

With many funding schemes around, a teacher needs to choose the one that suits the type of project he/she wants to do. Look carefully at the eligibility and judging criteria as this is what the applications will be assessed on. All the schemes mentioned here are open to primary schools, but some may need to involve other people as well. Some…

Primary science has been a major success story over the past 20 years in the UK. Children like science, and teachers, who may not have thought of themselves as "science-trained", have taken to the subject with gusto. Part of this enthusiasm is because of the practical nature of the subject. Science in UK schools makes good use of practical work to…

Popular myth has it that visiting a farm can be dangerous, but there are only a few occasions when children have become ill during a school visit to a farm. Simple, sensible precautions, including wearing appropriate clothing, such as trousers and wellington boots (if wet) or sensible shoes, and careful hand-washing, are all that is required. The…

Children's perceptions of industry often remain unclear, incorrect, or shrouded in misconception. A high proportion of children continue to describe industry using "negative" adjectives including dark, noisy, dirty, and smoky. In this article, the author describes a project that tackles these misconceptions by working with young children. The…

Assessment for Learning (AfL)--assessment that focuses on the gap between present performance and the desired goal--is integral to teaching and learning, and its importance has been recognised over a number of years. With the new status of science assessment in England, following the changes to key stage testing, a research team at the National…

The Ancient Greeks saw the world as earth, air, fire and water. This article presents some children's ideas about what makes up the Earth. Children were asked to share what they thought the Earth was made of, how old it is, how long it took to create, and what is inside it. The answers indicate that they often have emerging though vague ideas…

"Primary Science Review's" original "Wobbly Bits" series of articles was born back in 1997, after a conversation about this problem at a meeting of the ASE Primary Committee. The conversation turned to primary science teachers' scientific learning journeys. Each one of them could recount a story where they had completely misunderstood an aspect of…

In this article, the authors explore the question, "Does the Moon spin?", and show how the question is investigated. They emphasise the importance of the process by which people work out what they know, by "learning from the inside out." They stress that those involved in science education have to challenge current conceptions and ideas, making…