Jenny Mant

Primary School Teachers' Understanding of Environmental Issues: An interview study

In the light of an increased emphasis on environmental education in revisions of the National Curriculum to be introduced in September 2000, this study used in-depth interviews to explore the understanding of a non-random sample of 12 practising primary school teachers in four areas: biodiversity, the carbon cycle, ozone and global warming. A methodological innovation in this research was the prior identification of basic scientific explanations of each area for a primary teachers, and the use of these as benchmarks for judging understanding. The study was able to identify those underpinning science concepts which were well understood, and those which were not so well understood. Some missing concepts and misconceptions are also reported. Although the findings cannot be generalised to all primary teachers, the fairly strong science backgrounds of eight teachers in the sample suggest that some of the difficulties reported may be found more widely. It is suggested that both the basic explanations and the difficulties of understanding displayed by the teachers can usefully inform programmes of professional development for environmental education. An outline of a guide for teacher education adopting this approach is provided.

Some primary‐school teachers’ understanding of the Earth's place in the universe

Abstract This article describes research into primary‐school teachers’ understanding of a strand of the National Curriculum for science, namely ‘The Earths Place in the Universe’. An opportunity sample of 20 teachers varying widely in age, science background and teaching experience was interviewed in depth for about an hour. The interviews covered observations of the sky; explanations for day and night, the seasons, the phases of the moon; the position and movement of the planets; the scale of the solar system; and the relationship between stars, planets and the solar system. The interviews were analysed in two ways. First, each section was examined for all interviews. The frequencies of both the scientific view and various misconceptions were noted. Secondly, each interview was examined as a whole and the mental model of the universe held by that interviewee was extracted. These mental models were grouped and compared with the scientific model. Results are presented as tables summarizing the views encou...

The Effect of Increasing Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science Lessons on Pupils' Achievement and Engagement.

This paper reports research into the effect on 11‐year‐old pupils of introducing more cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive science lessons. Our hypothesis was that such lessons would increase the childrens enthusiasm for science and their engagement with the scientific process, thereby improving educational performance. Schools in England are under pressure to raise achievement, as measured by the results of national tests. This has an impact on teaching, where revision of subject knowledge often dominates and can be particularly detrimental to more able pupils. The research was a controlled trial which took place in thirty‐two English primary schools as part of a project “Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science”. Teachers from 16 intervention schools participated in continuing professional development (CPD) and developed science lessons that had more practical work, more discussion, more thinking and less (but more focused) writing. The proportion of pupils achieving the highest level (level 5) in the national science tests at age 11 was compared in the matched‐school pairs before and after the intervention. Focus group interviews were also held with a group of pupils in each intervention school. There was a 10% (95% Confidence Interval 2–17%) increase in the proportion of children achieving the top score in the intervention schools. The pupils and teachers reported greater engagement and motivation. These findings suggest that moving from rote revision to cognitively challenging, interactive science could help improve science education. They merit replication in other international settings to test their generalisability.

Developing Primary Teachers' Understanding of Energy Efficiency.

This paper reports research into the preconceptions of efficiency displayed by six primary school teachers, and the ways in which these became more scientific following in‐service training. The par...

A misconceived view of subject‐matter knowledge in primary science education: a response to Golby et al. ‘Some researchers’ understanding of primary teaching’

Abstract This is a rejection of the views expressed in the critique by Golby et al. (in this issue) of our article ‘Some primary‐school teachers’ understanding of the Earths place in the universe’. Their critique is deeply flawed in that: (i) amongst key inaccuracies, it attributes to us a view of teaching and learning which we do not express and to which we have never subscribed; (ii) it misunderstands the role of subject knowledge in teaching; (iii) it is confused about the nature of science and science education, and is out of touch with current thinking in these areas; (iv) the critique of our methodology and ethics is misconceived. Our riposte considers each of these points in turn, and laments the standards of criticism exhibited by these authors.