In February 2023, Ofsted published its findings about primary and secondary science in England (here). It’s a long report, and … More
Category: teaching
What is flexible knowledge… and how do we get some?
Superficial knowledge is poor stuff – even carefully curated, well taught superficial knowledge. It isn’t satisfying and isn’t likely to … More
Where Does Enquiry Belong?
Short answer: in science lessons, use enquiry once pupils already know the content. You might ask: Why use a pedagogical … More
EEF Primary Science: A Review of the Evidence
Back in 2018, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published a guidance report: Improving Secondary Science. It offered secondary science teacher … More
The Problem Solving Methods Learners Use – and How to Develop Them
Solving problems, especially in physics, has been well studied (e.g. Larkin, McDermott, Simon and Simon 1980: here and Chi, Glaser … More
Visible Physics – My ASE Presentation
Many thanks to everyone who came. I really enjoyed it and am grateful to colleagues who chose to come. I … More
ResearchEd Ipswich Presentation
I’m really excited to be presenting at ResearchEd Ipswich next weekend. I’m talking about the power of visuals in science … More
Using Visual Explanations Leads to Better Performance
I have been listening to Barbara Tversky’s wonderful new book: Mind in Motion, about the roots of thinking in the … More
A Short Booklet on What Research Says About Using Visuals in Teaching
Dear all, I have been thinking hard (and reading a lot) about using visualisations in class. Here is a booklet … More
Learning Intentions
I have been worrying about Learning Intentions for a quarter of a century. Occasionally I discreetly ask someone I trust … More