The science curriculum to age 16 should be judged on how well it meets the needs of students who progress to A-level science courses and those (a larger number) who do not. To address the diversity of students' interests and aspirations, we need a clear view of the purposes of science education rooted in a view of the purposes of education…

Our view of learning takes into account how learners, when learning, are engaged in both doing science and mathematics and becoming mathematicians and scientists. Drawing on our work on a number of European projects that developed inquiry approaches across mathematics and science, we propose a new research and development agenda seeking new ways…

Drawing on research into students' understanding, this article argues that the customary approach to introductory chemistry has created difficulties for students. Instead of being based on the notion of "solids, liquids and gases", introductory chemistry should be structured to develop the concept of a substance. The concept of a…

This article describes a pilot study following on from a curriculum development activity with teachers and children in primary school classrooms, using a framework for group discussion developed by Huthwaite International. The Centre for Science Education at Sheffield Hallam University and Huthwaite International worked with teachers from three…

The fundamentals of climate change are well established: greenhouse gases warm the planet; their concentrations in the atmosphere are increasing; Earth has warmed, and is going to continue warming with a range of impacts. This article summarises the contents of a recent publication issued by the UK's Royal Society and the US National Academy…

Teaching about climate science presents some unique challenges. Unlike many other science topics, mitigation and adaptation to climate change will require students to take action. This article outlines five major challenges to communicating about climate change in the classroom, drawing on research in environmental psychology: scepticism,…

This article describes an approach to teaching about the energy concept that aims to be accessible to students starting in early secondary school, while being scientifically rigorous and forming the foundation for later work. It discusses how exploring thermal processes is a good starting point for a more general consideration of the ways that…

A key challenge in designing a teaching programme on energy is in deciding how best to deal with the differences in how the word "energy" is used and understood in everyday discourse and in science. Many of the most important decisions and choices about energy matters, both for individuals and society, can be adequately understood from…

The National Curriculum for England has been revised and the statements on energy have some new phrasing and some new ideas. In this article, I will reflect on how these changes might be beneficial, relieving some of the strictures of previous drafts and providing opportunities to talk about energy in new, more constructive ways. I will discuss…

The energy concept is one of the most important ideas for students to understand. Looking at phenomena through the lens of energy provides powerful tools to model, analyse and predict phenomena in the scientific disciplines. The cross-disciplinary nature of the energy concept enables students to look at phenomena from different angles, helping…

The historical background to the laws of thermodynamics is explained using examples we can all observe in the world around us, focusing on motorised transport, refrigeration and solar heating. This is not to be considered as an academic article. The purpose is to improve understanding of thermodynamics rather than impart new knowledge, and for…

"Energy ideas" run through much of secondary school biology teaching. These ideas are not always consistent with each other or with the ideas used by other science disciplines. Would a change in terminology help avoid confusion or do we need to review the use of "energy" in science teaching?

The use of wind as a replenishable energy resource has come back into favour in recent decades. It is much promoted as a viable, clean energy option that will help towards reducing CO[subscript 2] emissions in the UK. This article examines the history of wind power and considers the development of wind turbines, together with their economic,…

The use of nuclear energy for the generation of electricity started in the 1950s and was viewed, at the time, as a source of virtually free power. Development flourished and some countries adopted the nuclear option as their principal source for producing electrical energy. However, a series of nuclear incidents and concern about the treatment of…

Electricity from osmotic pressure might seem a far-fetched idea but this article describes a prototype in Norway where the osmotic pressure generated between salt and fresh water drives a turbine. This idea was applied in a student investigation, where they were tasked with researching which alternative materials could be used for the…