Linda McGuigan

Reflections on the implementation of National Curriculum Science Policy for the 5‐14 age range: findings and interpretations from a national evaluation study in England

The implementation of science as a mandatory National Curriculum subject in England is reviewed in the light of data emerging from a recent evaluation study involving the 5‐14 age range. The paper examines some disparities between policy and practice relating to the science content which teachers are required to teach and explores ideas about progression of pupils understanding of that content. The nature of science as a core subject and the impact of the summative assessment regime are also considered. The necessity for interconnectivity between the curricular agenda, classroom practice and assessment structures is emphasized. This interrelatedness has so far been neglected but, it is argued, must be taken into account if current tensions in the system are to be resolved.

Teachers’ conceptual understanding in science: Needs and possibilities in the primary phase

Abstract This paper reviews the changing expectations made of primary teachers in respect of their science subject‐matter knowledge and understanding over the past 20–30 years up to the present time. The shift from a process orientation to a post National Curriculum emphasis on teachers’ science knowledge and understanding is discussed. While a balanced approach which takes account of science processes, content and contexts is advocated, it is acknowledged that available evidence points irrefutably to the advantages of enhanced subject matter knowledge on the part of teachers. It is argued that the case for teachers’ subject knowledge can be overstated, including a logical fallacy that this necessary knowledge also equips teachers to teach science in primary classrooms. A range of CRIPSAT projects which throw light on the debate are reviewed, including ways of making science knowledge accessible to teachers in a form which also addresses their classroom needs. In particular, it is suggested that a greater...

An Updated Perspective on Emergent Science.

ABSTRACT Our concern is to offer support to the entire spectrum of staff wishing to nurture the development of early years science, from unqualified personnel through to early years professionals who may hold any one of the plethora of relevant qualifications. We reflect on what form that science might take, bearing in mind criticisms of science education in the early years (taken as 3–7 years in this paper). As a starting point, the proficiencies deemed desirable for science in general and the youngest age group in particular are reviewed. We analyse the shift from the historical concept-process dichotomy to the prescription for inclusion of epistemic and social perspectives, together with the Nature of Science advocacy. A developmental assessment profile provides a means of reviewing early years holistic priorities towards an authentic bottom-up science in which children ask themselves how they came to know and believe the things they do.

Identifying and Enhancing the Science Within Early Years Holistic Practice

We report on an iterative design-based research approach (DBR, Anderson T, Shattuck J, Educ Res 41(1):16–25. doi: 10.3102/0013189X11428813, 2012) used to inform instructional design sequences in Early Years science. Our intention was to postulate developmental trajectories through which children move incrementally across the age range 36–84 months. These learning corridors would lead from holistic cross-curricular capabilities towards more science-specific experiences. Building on earlier work (Russell T, McGuigan L, Child development assessment profile. Ref: CAD/GM/0172 WAG10-12299 ISBN: 978 0 7504 6158 0

Making Formative Use of a National Summative Assessment Regime

While the impact of formative assessment practices on learning outcomes is receiving increasing attention, the dominant function of the statutory assessment system in England and Wales is summative. As authors of the statutory end of Key Stage 2 tests between 1995 and 1999, we are aware of a volume of test performance data generated in the course of the summative regime. Summative performance data are available on the cohort of 600,000 pupils, at age 11, assessed annually. We have further illuminated these data by an annual qualitative re-marking of a sub-sample stratified by three overall achievement levels. We suggest that many test items are analogous to concept probes within the constructivist paradigm. When pupils’ assessed understanding can be mapped onto lines of progression, assessment can have a powerful formative capability in informing classroom teaching and learning practices. The characteristics of test items which may combine summative and formative utility are discussed.

Development of a Model of Formative Assessment

This chapter describes the formulation of a model of formative assessment as it has emerged through a series of collaborative research and development activities with teachers. The aspiration is to articulate our emerging understanding of a complex set of interacting factors in an integrated and coherent manner. Though necessarily tentative, the model will serve to guide our future research activities as well as offering a perspective on the research of others. A specific approach to conceptual change is at the heart of the model, which attempts to extrapolate from constructivism as a theory of learning to its applications to the practice of teaching. Our approach integrates domain-specific elements – hypothesised conceptual trajectories that re-occur in science learning – with domain-general elements. The latter describe recurring cycles of interaction between teachers and pupils that might occur in any curricular domain. Some of the cost-benefits to teachers in their approach to the implementation of formative assessment practices are discussed. It is suggested that an implication of the suggested approach is the need to conduct and share more empirical research into pupils’ conceptual development, nationally and internationally

Promoting Understanding through Representational Redescription: an Exploration Referring to Young Pupils’ Ideas About Gravity

This paper describes an attempt to operationalise some aspects of the cognitive developmental hypothesis of Representational Redescription, (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992, 1994 and 1997). It is illustrated by a study that examined processes and outcomes of teaching and learning about gravitational force with pupils in the 4–11 age range. The researchers collaborated with a group of teachers in an attempt to apply to classroom practice some implications of the theoretical underpinning upon which the R-R view of knowledge development is based. Some insights into how the transformation of pupils’ internally stored representations might be provoked in the classroom are described. Our attempts at educational application do not claim to test the R-R hypothesis, but in the educational context of learning science ideas, some difficulties in applying the theoretical formulation are discussed, and some implications for ways forward are considered.

Science department planning structures and their influence on the provision of differentiated teaching

Abstract The study reported here represents part of a larger study to evaluate the implementation of science in the National Curriculum at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The focus of this paper is on a study of the provision of differentiated learning in Key Stage 3 classrooms. It was found that teachers did not use the National Curriculum in order to support differentiation. It was found that teachers in departments where pupils were set tended to assume their teaching groups were homogeneous. Teachers teaching mixed ability classes worried that they tended to teach to the middle. However a number of strategies for providing differentiated learning were identified at the teacher level. The ability of the teacher to implement these strategies was found to be restricted by highly prescriptive schemes of work and by tight time schedules. There was also a reliance by departments on teachers knowing the pupils and the resources available in order to provide differentiation. However resources for differentiation were ...