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Twenty years of science education in english primary schools

Posted on: Friday, 7 March 2003, 06:00 CST

Twenty years of science education in english primary schools

Source: Studies In Science Education

TWENTY YEARS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN ENGLISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS Science 3-13. The past, the present and possible futures. P. Warwick and R. Sparks Linfield (Eds), RoutledgeFalmer, London, 2000, ISBN 0- 415-22786-0 (hbk), 0-415-22787-9 (pbk).

This book sets out to explore factors that have been influential in developing science teaching and learning for the 3-13 age group over the last twenty years, with the intention of looking forward to the 215 century. The authors have focused on this period as prior to it science did not feature greatly in the English primary school. Consequently, there is an almost inevitable emphasis on the development of the English National Curriculum. There are nine contributors who each cover different themes, ranging through changes in the early years, science skills, concepts, assessment and aspects of science in society.

It is a pity that the focus is only on English science education rather than a wider international context. Indeed international readers may have problems accessing all the ideas in the book as there is an assumed common educational background between the writers and the reader. Even people from other parts of the UK and those who have not experienced the changes of the National Curriculum over the past ten years may find parts of the book difficult to follow, as there is a plethora of acronyms and abbreviations such as AT 17, KS2 and Scl which are specific to the English system. Despite this there is much that is good in the book.

One fascinating and well written chapter explores the impact of information technology since 1978 in primary schools. Angela McFarlane explores how changes in computer technology and the introduction of different types of hardware and software influenced science teaching. The chapter finishes with speculation on future changes and suggests imaginative uses of information technology in science, if teachers are enabled to develop their own technological literacy and the lack of on-line access in individual primary classrooms is overcome.

Unfortunately the quality of the writing and content varies throughout the book. The first main chapter reviews the development of science 3-13 and the impact of the National Curriculum. This is a rather disjointed short chapter which attempts to do too much. The first part relates general educational changes, such as those prompted by the Plowden Report, with science initiatives. Unfortunately the relationships between the two are not clearly made. In addition, another part of the chapter traces the development of the National Curriculum through back copies of journals such as Primary Science Review. These two different approaches do not sit comfortably together. The result is that readers without much background educational knowledge will struggle to follow the argument.

Part of the problem is that the authors of the book have set themselves a difficult challenge in trying to cover ages 3 to 13. The spread across the primary and secondary age phases is difficult to cover in the relatively short chapters. Consequently, authors tend to focus on one age group and give limited coverage to the other. Occasionally, this gives a false impression. This is particularly noticeable in the chapter on `Learning Concepts', where there is limited reference to the primary age range, so that the chapter has a distorting emphasis on secondary examples. This is most evident with regard to the criticisms of the Nuffield 5-13 scheme which Elaine Wilson describes as a 'recipe style' package. Unlike secondary practice, the primary Nuffield 5-13 scheme was an imaginative development, prompting movement from didactic teaching focusing only on the 'nature table' to the acceptance that children need to make their own sense of the world in a way that relates to their personal experience and cultural language. This rather invalidates the author's view that dissatisfaction with this scheme initiated an alternative approach towards constructivism.

The most successful chapters are where the topic has been clearly set within one of the phases. This can be seen in the chapter 'Developing a Scientific Way of Working with Younger Children' which specifically focuses on primary children. This chapter also gives a more accurate representation of primary materials from the Nuffield 5-13 scheme. It then provides a thorough exploration of the way science process skills have been promoted within English primary schools over the past 40 years, and ends with important points for consideration to ensure an appropriate focus on science skills in future primary education.

Similarly the chapter on `The Growth and Development of Science in the Early Years', which focuses on the youngest primary aged children only, is very successful. It considers, in an interesting way, how early educationalists and writers, such as Rousseau, Froebel, Steiner and Montessori, contributed to modern early years views. The Science National Curriculum and subsequent changes are then evaluated with respect to these writers' views. The final section is disadvantaged by the fact that the details of the Desirable Learning Outcomes (government guidelines in this area) were probably not available at the time of writing, as these give an emphasis to play which is not raised by the author. However, Penny Coltman does comment topically on the potentially damaging effect of the literacy and numeracy strategies.

Despite the fact that the chapter on `Learning Concepts' has an over emphasis on secondary education, Elaine Wilson provides an interesting review of developments since the Nuffield 5-13 science courses, in the 1960s, and considers how ideas of constructivism in science developed from more general theories in cognitive psychology. She also helpfully shows how more recent science curriculum projects such as the Science Processes and Concepts Exploration (SPACE), Children's Learning in Science (CLIS) and Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) projects are based on constructivism principles. Her evaluation of the limitations of the constructivist approach are also interesting. However, her commentary on constructivism and science is limited by its English focus. For example, she does not acknowledge the work of the Learning in Science Projects (LISP) in Waikato, New Zealand in 1970s as the probable initiator of constructivism in science education.

The chapter on 'Assessing Learning in Science' is rather disappointing, as the argument is difficult to follow. Rachel Sparks Linfield and Paul Warwick try to show the historical development of assessment by commenting on research projects such as the Science Teacher Action Research (STAR) project and the Assessment for Performance Unit (APU) as well as having a section on different types of assessment. Unfortunately the two strands become confused. This makes it appear that observation of children, children's drawing and concept maps are the major assessment strategies. Forms of writing are only mentioned in passing as a method covered by the STAR project. It would also be helpful to have more reference to research outside the UK. For example, reference to Hayes and Symington (Hayes and Symington, 1984; Hayes, Symington and Martin, 1994; Symington and Hayes, 1991) on how effectively young children can communicate scientific observation through drawings would have extended the frequent references to projects such as SPACE.

While the chapter on `Views on the "Right Kind of Teacher" for Science 3-13' tends to focus on primary teachers, John Hobden shows how changes in the primary science curriculum have required secondary science teachers to review their practice. It was a pity that this issue was not examined further, especially as one of the other contributors has explored strategies for improving effective transfer between Key Stage 2 and 3 (Stephenson, 1999). However, the author does provide useful summaries of possible characteristics of a 'good' science teacher and lists the advantages and disadvantages of generalist, specialist and semi-specialist teaching, and setting in science.

The final chapters consider how children are enabled to relate science to activities beyond the classroom. Philip Stephenson provides an unusual commentary on how the work of professional organisations have directly or indirectly influenced practice in primary school science. He describes the work of the Association for Science Education (ASE); charitable foundations like the Nuffield Foundation; organisations specifically promoting the public understanding of science, such as the British Association; single issue organisations as represented by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA); industry, including Glaxo Wellcome; industrial liaison organisations such as the Science and Technology Regional Organisations (SATRO), Educational Business Partnerships (EBP) and Chemical Industry Education Centre (CIEC); as well as industrial societies such as the Society of Chemical Industry. The general tenor of the account is very positive with the problems or limitations only touched upon. This is partly because the examples chosen represent the more successful initiatives and interventions. Most of these organisations emphasise the value of providing experiences that demonstrate the place of science in our lives and help to improve the scientific literacy ofyoung children so that they are better prepared as future citizens.

This theme is taken up in the final main chapter `Science in Society or Society in Science'. Initially Michael Reiss describes secondary and primary curriculum materials that set out to help pupils relate and apply science ideas to everyday issues in society within topics such as health and transport. He goes on to suggest why these have been relatively unsuccessful in terms of available time in the overcrowded primary curriculum, the focus on 'pure' science as promoted by the national summative assessments (commonly called SATs) in England, and teachers' perceptions of science. The reader is then briefly introduced to some of the issues relating to gender, race, culture and pupils with disabilities. Obviously in such a short chapter these topics can only be touched upon. However, it would be helpful to the interested reader to have been given more references to material that has explored the area of special educational needs such as Ditchfield (1987), Fagg and Skelton (1990) and the National Curriculum Council (1989).

There is much that is good in the book, although the reader should pick and choose with respect to both content and accessibility. With respect to the latter, some chapters are well written, whereas others are rather disjointed. Indeed the whole book would have been improved by tighter editing both within chapters and to ensure that there is no unnecessary repetition between chapters. Generally the book is most suitable for MA students and those wanting an introduction to issues of primary science in English schools.

REFERENCES

DITCHFIELD, C. (Compiled by) (1987) Secondary Science Curriculum Review. Better science: for young people with special educational needs. London: Heinemann.

FAGG, S. & SKELTON, S. (1990) Science for all. London: David Fulton.

HAYES, D. & SYMINGTON, D. (1984) The satisfaction of young children with their representational drawings of natural phenomena, Research in Science Education, 14, 39-46.

HAYES, D., SYMINGTON, D. & MARTIN, M. (1994) Drawing during science activity in the primary school, International Journal of Science Education, 16, 265-277.

NATIONAL CURRICULUM COUNCIL (1989) Curriculum guidance 2: a curriculum for all. York: NCC.

STEPHENSON, P. (1999) Improving experience in science during cross-phase transfer. Leicester: SCIcentre.

SYMINGTON, D., BOUNDY, K., RADFORD, T. & WALTON, J. (1981) Children's drawings of natural phenomena, Research in Science Education, 11, 44-51.

TINA JARVIS

University of Leicester, UK

Contact address:

School of Education

University of Leicester

21 University Rd.

Leicester

LE1 7HF

UK

Copyright University of Leeds, Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics Education 2001

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