Evolution and inheritance appear in the new National Science Curriculum for England, which comes into effect from September 2014. In the curriculum documents, it is expected that pupils in year 6 (ages 10-11) should be taught to: (1) recognise that living things have changed over time; (2) recognise that living things produce offspring of the same…

Nicky Waller and Chris Baker believe that change can be a good thing and explain how their training has helped others to adjust to the new science curriculum. In September 2013, teachers across England received the definitive version of the new primary curriculum "Leading Change in the Primary Science Curriculum." This course aimed to…

The 2008 science curriculum for Wales marked a landmark change in the way teachers planned and delivered science in primary schools. It was at the vanguard of the more pupil-centred style of curriculum planning and pedagogy that supported the dual initiatives of improving the quality of assessment for learning and thinking skills in all schools.…

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…

In this "Primary Science" interview, science educators Alan Peacock and Mick Dunne reflect on their own experiences of what science was like in England before a National Curriculum was introduced. Among the topics covered are: earliest memories of science in school, teaching science before 1988 (pre-science curriculum for primary…

Readers of the draft new English primary science curriculum (DfE, 2012) might be concerned to see that there is much more detail on the Earth science content than previously in the United Kingdom. In this article, Chris King, a professor of Earth Science Education at Keele University and Director of the Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU),…

The Northern Ireland Primary Curriculum, formerly a highly prescribed, content-rich programme in which science was a discrete subject, was revised in 2007 and made statutory for all year groups by 2009. One of the most significant changes has been the amalgamation of science and technology with geography and history under a single area of learning…

In this article, Steve Waters-Adams and Pete Barron respond to Alan Peacock's Viewpoint article, "The art of nose blowing", in the last issue of "Primary Science" (n123, pages 34-36), in which he questioned why primary science in English primary schools seemed not to be improving in spite of the resources put into it. Waters-Adams shares that…

As a science adviser, the author visits many schools and experiences many approaches to teaching and learning and the curriculum. Over the years, he has developed a very close working relationship with a very "special" school, Marjory Kinnon School, in Bedfont, Middlesex. The pupils present moderate and complex learning needs or autism, and…

In the summer of 2010 the authors spent two weeks helping teachers in a primary school near Kampala to develop their science curriculum. In common with many primary schools in Uganda science was taught as "facts to be learnt." This was partly because the teachers had had little or no first-hand experience of practical science or science enquiry…

There are many ways in which wire coat hangers can be used other than for suspending clothes. The author has been making use of them in his teaching for many years--copying ideas from colleagues and creating some for himself. In this article, he shares five examples that can enrich learning about science. (Contains 6 figures.)

There have been many years of innovation in primary science education. Surprisingly, however, most of this has taken place within the confines of the classroom. What primary science has not yet done with universal success is step outside the classroom boundaries to use the school grounds for teaching and learning across all aspects of the science…

Working with evidence is a fundamental part of scientific enquiry. Children should be taught to consider evidence and evaluate it. They should make simple comparisons, comparing what happened with what they expected to happen, and try to explain what happened through drawing on their knowledge and understanding. In this article, the author…

The Association For Science Education's "schoolscience.co.uk Great Bug Hunt 2011," in association with Martin Rapley and Gatekeeper Educational, has been a resounding success--not only because it fits into the science curriculum so neatly, but also because of the passion it evoked in the children who took part. This year's entries were truly…

The authors explain why integrating the teaching of science and French is not as ridiculous as it may at first sound. They describe how this innovative integrated approach works in a primary school in Oxfordshire. The project involves Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). CLIL is a method whereby a curriculum subject is planned and…