National Science Education Standards

Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers

The introduction of the Foundation Stage and its associated legislation has constituted a radical innovation that is transforming early childhood education. In this paper we show how the Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) research programme continues to contribute towards achieving these improvements in practice. In focusing upon the EPPE programme's influence upon pedagogic practice in particular, the paper draws predominantly upon the research findings and recommendations associated with our qualitative case studies. This work was first published in the Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) report in 2002, and in the EPPE Technical Paper 10 in 2003. Practitioners respond positively to research when it is focused on specific teaching and learning contexts and practices. The EPPE project therefore applied Environment Rating Scales to identify the quality of educational provision, and used multilevel analysis to isolate the independent variables of most significance in explaining variations in the progress and development of young children during their time in pre‐school. The multi‐level analysis identified ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ centres, based on measurable child outcomes. Twelve of these centres were selected for in‐depth qualitative case study enquiries that both extended and triangulated the quantitative analysis. This paper shows how the qualitative findings, as well as some of the data that they have been drawn from, have subsequently been applied to provide the practical guidance and exemplar resources needed in the development and improvement of early years educational practice.

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project : Report on Age 6 Assessment

Social Psychology (2nd ed.).

The present study investigated outreach activities, developed by STEM-based companies or universities in co-creation with secondary education with the aim to inform students about and motiv...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09500693.2018.1473659

Do outreach activities in secondary STEM education motivate students and improve their attitudes towards STEM

Students have been reported to have stereotypical views of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats. We argue that a way to provide students with a more realistic view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to interact with scientists during short, discussion-based sessions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 professional areas were asked to share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist, in short sessions with groups of 7–8 students. The student sample consisted of 223 students between 13 and 15 years. Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the sessions to assess students’ views of scientists and their work, and scientists’ experiences of interacting with students. The pre-session questionnaires revealed that students considered scientists as ‘boring’ and ‘nerdy’ whereas after the sessions students focused extensively on how ‘normal’ the scientists appeared to be. The face-to-face interactions with scientists allowed students to view scientists as approachable and normal people, and to begin to understand the range of scientific areas and careers that exist. Scientists viewed the scientist–student interactions as a vehicle for science communication. Implications discussed include the need for future training courses to focus on developing science communicators’ questioning and interaction skills for effective interactions with students.

/pdf/meet-the-scientist-the-value-of-short-interactions-between-9ztnv5yuxn.pdf

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Teachers as health promoters: Factors that influence early career teachers to engage with health and wellbeing education

Enquiry-based science in primary classrooms is key to encouraging children's interest and curiosity about the world around them and as a result helps to stimulate their understanding and enjoyment of science. Yet many primary teachers lack the confidence to implement enquiry-based approaches effectively. The reasons are myriad and often result in the teacher controlling and orchestrating the lesson leaving little room for children's exploration and autonomy. This paper explores how one infant school teacher was willing to relinquish control and ‘let go’ and expand her pedagogical repertoire to manage the many obstacles to including enquiry-based science in her classroom. The autonomy the children were given resulted in genuine enquiry-based science with the consequential benefit to their learning. Furthermore the teacher's confidence and self-efficacy seem to have been raised ensuring that that she would continue to include enquiry-based science as part of her practice in the future. As a model for other primary teachers this approach could help them overcome their reticence to engage with enquiry-based science.

/pdf/enquiry-based-science-in-the-infant-classroom-letting-go-2ei369eosw.pdf

Enquiry-Based Science in the Infant Classroom: "Letting Go".

The possible roles of culture, gender, and age-related factors in decision making about socioscientific issues (SSIs) have been underexplored. To study the impact of culture and cross-cultural unde...

/pdf/a-cross-cultural-cross-age-and-cross-gender-study-of-hong-5dgazq8rso.pdf

A cross-cultural, cross-age, and cross-gender study of Hong Kong and UK secondary students' decision making about a biological conservation issue

Teachers play a key role in promoting children and young people’s health and therefore require health training during their initial teacher education (ITE). However, little is known about the impact of such training on teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and competence toward promoting health in school, especially long term. We report on Phase 1 of an 18-month project examining the long-term impact of an innovative health education program, based on socio-constructivist learning and critical reflection, during preservice teacher training at one ITE university in England. It also explored barriers and facilitators to promoting health in school. We sent a questionnaire to 1,014 primary and secondary school teachers from three consecutive cohorts: preservice teachers (N = 334), newly qualified teachers (N = 334), and early careers teachers (N = 346). Of these, 164 (16%) responded (32% of preservice teachers, 8% of in-service teachers). This low response rate presents limitations but is in accordance with other research following up early career teachers. The majority of the respondents found the training useful, felt confident and knowledgeable teaching and dealing with health issues, and held positive attitudes about promoting health. They indicated that practical experience, supportive colleagues, and a positive school ethos toward children’s health and well-being were important facilitators to teaching health education. We conclude the training is associated with a positive, long-term effect in the minority who responded, and we argue that the socio-constructivist nature of the health education training is a contributor. However, school environment factors might mitigate or support the impact of training provided during ITE.

Willeke Rietdijk

Papers

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Teachers as health promoters: Factors that influence early career teachers to engage with health and wellbeing education

Enquiry-Based Science in the Infant Classroom: "Letting Go".

A cross-cultural, cross-age, and cross-gender study of Hong Kong and UK secondary students' decision making about a biological conservation issue

A longitudinal study to explore the impact of preservice teacher health training on early career teachers’ roles as health promoters