Philip Stephenson

A comparison of primary school pupils' ability to express procedural understanding in science through speech and writing

Pupils reaching the end of their primary schooling in the UK have some grasp of the relevance of their process activities in terms of evidential value. The majority find it easier to express this understanding verbally rather than in writing. One reason for this is the facility that pupils have for using the two modes of expression, yet it is clear that other factors are in play. Both pupils and teachers have different agendas for what it is appropriate to address in speech and in writing, and thus the two modes of expression often serve different purposes. This paper concludes that there is much that might be done to improve the critical nature of the dialogue pupils enter into in their written work, thus exposing more clearly their level of procedural understanding.

After transfer: New directions for continuity in pupils' learning and experience of science

Evidence from a range of sources including Government funded research, Ofsted reports and Local Education Authority inspection indicates that despite improved liaison between secondary schools and their associated primaries, there still appears to be a discontinuity in childrens learning and experience as they move from one phase to the next. This is particularly evident in science. This article focuses on how a sample of schools in East Anglia is becoming more effective in smoothing the transition from primary to secondary and suggests ways that they might make even greater progress in this respect.

Using museums as an educational resource: an introductory handbook for students and teachers

In many ways, the past decade has seen a transformation in museum education. A range of factors, including the establishment of networks such as ‘Renaissance in the Regions’, raised status through Department for Education initiatives (notably the ‘Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto’), systematic and well-informed research with a focus on learning, principally by the RCMG unit at Leicester (Hooper-Greenhill 2007), and a steady stream of Heritage Lottery Funding, has enabled museum educators to embrace and enthuse increasing numbers of learners. Equally, many quarters in the teaching profession, particularly at the primary level, have shown increasing demand for the wider ranging learning opportunities that the museums and galleries sector offers. This is, to some account, a consequence of the raised priority in initial teacher training to offer student teachers and their school-based mentors experience in settings for learning other than school. Many of the recommendations of the recently published Cambridge Primary Review are already in place within the museum and galleries education sector: the pursuit of a curriculum based on ‘principle not prescription’; the promotion of authentic dialogue among learners and their educators; and the setting of learning in a meaningful context. However, the current climate of both political and financial uncertainty has the potential to destabilise the progress made. Financial constraints will see museum education departments facing extremely difficult decisions regarding resources, while there is the possibility that teachers will retire back into the constraints of the ‘strategies stockade’, as the vision offered by the Rose and Cambridge reviews becomes obscured by political instrumentalism. For this reason, the publication of Graeme Talboys’s revised Using Museums as an Educational Resource could not be better timed. The book is a comprehensive revision of the original 1994 work and wholly embraces the developments summarised above – and more. From the start, the author champions the value that museums offer – both instrumental (concrete) and intrinsic (abstract). A clear, defining introduction is followed by a comprehensive and well-argued case for The Curriculum Journal Vol. 22, No. 1, March 2011, 105–106