The new English Curriculum requiring not only the study of sedimentary and igneous rocks but also understanding of fossil formation, is a great opportunity to make this one of the most exciting units any science teacher can present. When an animal or plant dies, it "disappears" completely as it is degraded by a range of organisms. It may…

A review of research on outdoor learning by Rickinson "et al." (2004) highlights the demonstrable educational benefits and provides a source of support, justification and an evidence base for educators looking to undertake more learning outside the classroom. Bird (2004) also reviewed the widely reported health benefits of outdoor…

The recent explosive growth of the Wild Network, which exists to champion and support connection with nature and wildness in children and young people, suggests that there is a groundswell of support for getting young people outdoors. Hannah Rose and Anneke Kempton of the Field Studies Council (FSC) explain why the outdoors is such an important…

The Beat the Flood challenge involves designing and building a model flood-proof home, which is then tested in "flood" conditions. It is set on the fictitious Watu Island. The children form teams, with each team member being assigned a responsibility for the duration of the task--team leader, chief recorder, and resource manager. This…

Learning to use visualisation techniques in the classroom enables pupils and teachers to gain new insights into how concepts are formed and how to strengthen them, but visualisation is sometimes not what it seems. Learning by constructing meaning is a long-standing principle underpinning much of today's school science. In "Primary…

In 2011, OFSTED produced its triennial report, "Successful Science" (OFSTED, 2011), celebrating the successes of science in English schools over the previous three years and informing educators of what things still needed to be addressed. The Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM, www.psqm.org.uk) was highlighted as helping to address many…

Kathy Schofield explains how the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT) came into being and how it continues to enhance science for primary teachers and children. The Primary Science Teaching Trust provides financial assistance to help improve the learning and teaching of science in the U.K. The Trust was established in April 1997 as an independent…

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…

Stories are a place where magical things happen, where ideas are challenged, where the imagination runs free and questions are asked. They are a safe place, where the reader can walk about with new identities, try new ideas, process life's ups and downs and make new meanings. This makes stories the perfect place for creative learning. In this…

Even in the foundation stage (ages 3-5), children reveal an awareness of and enthusiasm for dinosaurs and fossils, so this research includes the entire primary age range. The authors sought to discover what ideas prevail as children develop and how their understanding progresses. Reviewing relevant educational research led them to define five…

How can educators provide children with a genuine experience of carrying out an extended scientific investigation? And can teachers change the perception of what it means to be a scientist? These were key questions that lay behind "The Human Condition" project, an initiative funded by the Primary Science Teaching Trust to explore a new…

In a previous article (2014), this author outlined the practical use of visualisation as a way of starting lessons. The purpose of this is to create interest, hold attention, and provide some mental experience of the conceptual learning to follow. In this way, links can be created between the teaching activity in the first few minutes of the…

Children are engaged by finding out about science in the real world (Harlen, 2010). Many children will be cyclists or will have seen or heard about the success of British cyclists in the Olympics and the Tour de France. This makes cycling a good hook to draw children into learning science. It is also a good cross-curricular topic, with strong…

As a final-year student teacher specialising in primary science, Emma Heaney faced the challenge of having to plan, organise, and conduct a small-scale, classroom-based research project. She had to teach about bones in the final block practice session and thought it would be a good idea to bring in some biological specimens obtained from the local…

In the past, teaching has suffered from applying tentative research from neuroscience directly to the classroom. Even though the last decade has seen a step change in efforts to bring together education and neuroscience research, the dialogue is still in its infancy. What do you do if you want to learn more? What does the research really tell us?…