Primary and secondary teachers, skip seductive pictures of explosions, pandas and smallpox – they reduce comprehension and learning (see here).…
Primary Science in a Nutshell
Exciting news! Leigh Hoath and I have written, with the support of many others (see below), a new book. Our…
Reading for Learning or Learning for Reading?
Back in 2014, when I started this blog, I was a primary school teacher with a special interest in science…
Making Abstract Physics Concepts Physical
4 years ago, I was promoting making abstract quantities in physics, such as current and energy, visible using representations such…
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…
“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.…
Among the top 13 million chess players in the world!
(How IA interprets this text) I have played 226 games of rapid (10min) chess this year, and I’ve ended up…
Attempting to Make Sense of “Working Scientifically” in the English National Curriculum.
For years I have struggled with teaching “Working Scientifically” in science lessons. It is a core strand from Key Stage…
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…
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…
Reading for Learning 