Misconceptions In Primary Science

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Neither should these encounters be restricted to just making science relevant. They should also reveal phenomena that pupils have never encountered before. This includes meeting the national curriculum requirement that science must be taught in the laboratory, in the field and in other environments. [footnote 161] By doing so, pupils learn a more authentic perspective of science [footnote 162] – that science is not just done in laboratories. Challenges of practical work A solution to these problems is to organise the school curriculum so that disciplinary knowledge is embedded within the substantive content of biology, chemistry and physics. This enables pupils to see the important interplay between both categories of knowledge, allowing pupils to: disciplinary knowledge (knowledge of how scientific knowledge is generated and grows): this is specified in the ‘working scientifically’ sections of the national curriculum and it includes knowing how to carry out practical procedures Teacher explanations and worked examples [footnote 171] should make connections between knowledge explicit to pupils. [footnote 172] This may include using carefully selected analogies and models [footnote 173] to help pupils link changes at the macroscopic and tangible levels to microscopic and submicroscopic levels. [footnote 174] This is known as relational understanding. For example, teaching pupils about the nature of chemical knowledge helps them to connect what happens at the macroscopic level to the submicroscopic level involving particles. [footnote 175] This prevents pupils from confusing macroscopic changes with submicroscopic changes – say, thinking a decrease in the size of a piece of metal is due to the ‘shrinking’ of particles. In biology, relationships between the different levels of organisation, such as organs and organisms, need to be made explicit too. [footnote 176] Millar also identifies that practical work plays an important role in teaching specific disciplinary knowledge. [footnote 148] Often, this involves learning to use laboratory apparatus to carry out specific procedures, or about specific aspects of scientific enquiry. [footnote 149] At times, pupils will need to carry out their own scientific enquiries, so they can learn about the often dynamic and unpredictable aspects in which scientists work, [footnote 150] such as the challenges with measurement. [footnote 151]

Sequencing disciplinary knowledge needs to first take account of its hierarchical nature (for example, teach variables before validity) and then the progression of substantive knowledge. This is because certain substantive concepts provide a better context to learn certain disciplinary knowledge than others. [footnote 101] For example, the particle nature of matter provides an excellent context for pupils to learn aspects of disciplinary knowledge about scientific models. Evolution would not be the best substantive context to teach pupils how to design experiments. [footnote 102] This means that a high-quality science curriculum will identify the best substantive contexts to teach specific disciplinary knowledge. Key stage 2 science sampling 2016: methodology note and outcomes’, Department for Education, July 2017. ↩ National curriculum in England: science programmes of study’, Department for Education, September 2013.At the same time, there are indications that teacher-assessed grades at key stage 2 are over-inflating pupils’ achievement in science. In 2018, just 21.2% of Year 6 pupils were estimated to be performing at the expected standard in science according to national sample assessments. [footnote 220] This contrasts with 82% of pupils according to teachers’ assessments. [footnote 221] This discrepancy may be because some schools do not give enough time or training for moderation, which are both necessary to ensure that teachers’ judgements are valid and reliable. [footnote 222] It may also be due to the different methods used. For example, teacher assessment in primary schools is frequently based on classroom work, whereas national science sampling tests measure pupils’ ability to remember and apply substantive and disciplinary knowledge. There is evidence that some textbooks in England have become narrowly linked to examinations [footnote 134] and can be a source of misconceptions. [footnote 135] However, high-quality science textbooks fulfil several valuable roles in supporting pupils’ learning. [footnote 136] For example, they can give clear delineation of content with a precise focus on key concepts and knowledge. They also provide a coherent learning progression within the subject. Any attempt to capture the national context for science education needs to recognise that schools face a number of challenges in recruiting and retaining specialist science teachers. complex concepts and procedures must be broken down into simpler parts, but knowledge must not become fragmented or divorced from the subject discipline As well as seeking coherence within and between the scientific disciplines, pupils need to make relevant connections between knowledge from other subject disciplines, for example between mathematics and physics.

Knowledge of methods that scientists use to answer questions. This covers the diverse methods that scientists use to generate knowledge, [footnote 64] not just fair testing, which is often over emphasised in science classrooms and curriculums. [footnote 65] For example, use of models, chemical synthesis, classification, description and the identification of correlations (pattern-seeking) have played important roles, alongside experimentation, in establishing scientific knowledge. [footnote 66] Pupils have access to sufficient practical resources to take part in demanding practical work, either independently or in appropriately sized groups that enable first-hand experiences. There are several reasons why pupils may find learning science difficult. [footnote 81] These difficulties stem from the intrinsic nature of science – that is, the abstract and counter-intuitive nature of scientific knowledge and its use of language – as well as the limited capacity of human working memory. [footnote 82] An individual’s working memory capacity correlates strongly with their performance in science. [footnote 83] Pupils with little prior knowledge are particularly susceptible to working memory limitations because they do not yet have the necessary conceptual frameworks to filter out what matters from what does not. [footnote 84] Substantive knowledge in science is organised according to the 3 subject disciplines: biology, chemistry and physics. Earth science is frequently considered to be a fourth but is typically taught through the other 3 disciplines in England’s schools. Each discipline has its own ontological, methodological and epistemic rules. [footnote 50] But they all belong to ‘science’ because they are disciplines that explain the material world. Within each discipline, there are subdisciplines [footnote 51] such as cell biology, electromagnetics and organic chemistry. These are characterised by the methods and scientific theories they use.Timetables allocate appropriate teaching time to science, reflecting its status as a core subject in the national curriculum. There are particular concerns that pupils in some primary schools are not receiving sufficient curriculum time to learn science. However, the specific purposes of practical work in school curriculums are not always clearly defined. [footnote 142] This means that discussions around effectiveness are sometimes confused and not particularly productive. [footnote 143] And although pupils enjoy practical work, [footnote 144] research suggests that this does not, by itself, foster long-term personal interests in the subject. [footnote 145] Indeed, teachers can often prioritise ‘wow’ moments without clear reference to any curricular goal. [footnote 146] substantive knowledge (knowledge of the products of science, such as concepts, laws, theories and models): [footnote 48] this is referred to as scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding in the national curriculum For this to be successful, sufficient curriculum time needs to be allocated to teach underlying substantive and disciplinary knowledge first. [footnote 152] This is because carrying out a scientific enquiry requires knowledge of the concepts and procedures to guide what is done and why. [footnote 153] If this prior knowledge is not available, pupils will be participating in discovery learning, and not scientific enquiry. Practical work through teachers’ use of demonstrations Millar outlines 5 related, but distinct, purposes of practical work in helping pupils learn substantive knowledge. [footnote 147] These are set out below in table 2, along with our own examples.

Scientific misconceptions pop up across the curriculum. Below we set out some of the more common misconceptions. Another study found that pupils who watched teachers’ demonstrations outperformed those who watched video and reading interventions. [footnote 156] The authors suggest this effect was partly due to the high-quality questioning that took place. Before we explore the evidence relating to enquiry-based teaching, it is important to stress that enquiry-based teaching, which is a pedagogy, should not be confused with scientific enquiry as a curricular goal, or with practical work generally.Overuse of external assessment items, such as GCSE or A-level questions, is avoided because this narrows the curriculum and leads to superficial progress that does not prepare pupils for further study. Importantly, he stresses that practical work should form ‘part of a broader teaching strategy’. This means that there needs to be sufficient time after or before the practical for pupils to interpret and explain the observations and measurements made, or that are about to be made. Practical activities form part of a wider instructional sequence that gives pupils time to connect theory to observation. The performance of pupils who study science in England is significantly above the average performance of pupils in other countries. Over the past 10 years, there has been an increase in the number of pupils wanting to study science beyond age 16. However, there is emerging evidence from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), key stage 2 national sample tests and Ofsted’s own research into curriculum that suggests the picture is not an improving one for all pupils and may be deteriorating. This makes the findings of this review particularly significant, not only because it identifies features associated with high-quality science education but because it also shines a light on some of the barriers that prevent their implementation. Aims of science education