4 years ago, I was promoting making abstract quantities in physics, such as current and energy, visible using representations such … More
Category: Literacy
What Makes an Explanation in Science Lessons Effective?
A review of “Towards a framework for effective instructional explanations in science teaching” by Christoph Kulgemeyer (2019) This paper provides … More
“Lovely rich tasks” Vs “Tedious exercises”
Hands up if you’ve never set your pupils a block of practice questions that are all similar but slightly different. … More
The Art of the Sentence in Primary Science
There’s a truism in primary education: “before they can write it, they need to say it.” But that’s not quite … More
Should We Use Explicit Teaching Approaches or Enquiry Methods in Primary Science: Does the EEFs New Primary Science Guidance Report Tell Us?
Last week (28th November 2023) the Education Endowment Foundation published its long-awaited Improving Primary Science Guidance Report. We now have … More
Is an Apple a Living Thing?
From categorising buttons to categorisation in science “Pupils should be taught to explore and compare the differences between things that … More
Using story books to overturn science misconceptions in young children
This is an amazing piece of research. The researchers were able to show that children as young as four are … More
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Telling Stories in Physics Lessons
Richard Brock and I met several years ago at the Institute of Physics – I was Richard’s warm up act … More
Teaching Categorisation in Primary Science with Variation Theory
Living and Non-Living Things Two weeks ago, I visited Solebay Primary Academy – one of Paradigm Trust’s primary schools in … More
Science: If you Know How It’s Made, You Can Trust What It Says.
Truth is precious. The power of science is that it is built on the most effective method of generating accurate … More