This week The Education Endowment Foundation have released its new ‘Improving Primary Science’ guidance report .
The EEF say, ‘High-quality primary science teaching builds pupils’ curiosity and critical thinking, helping them to build a coherent understanding of the world around them. It’s also crucial from a social mobility point of view, opening children’s minds to the opportunities they could pursue in later life.
The EEF new guidance report — Improving Primary Science— is underpinned by a systematic review of the best available international evidence around effective primary science teaching practice.’
A comprehensive review of the approaches to primary science teaching was carried out by Bennett et al (2023) on behalf of the Education Endowment Foundation. This informed the recommendations contained in the Improving Primary Science Guidance Report (2023).
The report outlines six actionable recommendations to support teachers and school leaders to make improvements to their existing science provision, including how to develop pupils’ scientific vocabulary, and relate new learning to relevant, real-world contexts. Each recommendation includes models, worked examples and suggested strategies to illustrate what the evidence could look like practice in your primary school classroom.’
The report is free to download from the EEF’s website and is accompanied by additional resources designed to support pupils’ independence when working scientifically and prompt meaningful discussions around science professional development for staff.
The summary of recommendations is as follows:
| Recommendation | Strategies |
| Develop pupil’s scientific vocabulary | – Identify science-specific vocabulary. – Explicitly teach new vocabulary and its meaning, creating opportunities for repeated engagement and use over time. |
| Encourage pupils to explain their thinking whether verbally or in written form | – Create a collaborative learning environment. – Capitalise on the power of dialogue. – Cultivate reasoning and justification. |
| Guide pupils to work scientifically | – Explicitly teach the knowledge and skills required to work scientifically, guiding pupils to apply this in practice with opportunities for discussion and reflection. |
| Relate new learning to relevant real-world contexts | – Consider real-world contexts – Engage with science concepts supported by virtual models.. |
| Use assessment to support teaching and responsive teaching | – Plan teaching that builds on existing knowledge and experiences. – Monitor pupils’ learning to inform responsive teaching, feedback and next steps. – Summarise what pupils have learned against planned criteria. |
| Strengthen science teaching through effective professional development, as part of an implementation process. | – Use a range of information to identify development priorities and professional learning needs. – Consider factors of high-quality professional development to plan or evaluate provision. – Reflect on senior leadership support at the strategic to classroom level. |
Download the full report to get a detailed explanation of each of these recommendations.
References
Bennett, J., Dunlop, L., Atkinson, L., Compton, S., Glasspoole-Bird, H., Lubben, F., Reiss, M.J., Turkenburg-van Diepen, M., (2023) A systematic review of approaches to primary science teaching. Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/evidence-reviews/primary-science
Education Endowment Foundation (2023) Improving Primary Science Guidance Report https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/primary-science-ks1-ks2
see also
Bianchi, L. Whittaker, A., and Poole, A. (2021) The 10 Key Issues with Children’s Learning in Primary Science in England. University of Manchester and The Ogden Trust https://www.scienceacrossthecity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/3634_Childrens_Learning_in_Primary_Science_Report_2020_v8.pdf
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