The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Team Prize for Excellence in Primary Education

GSSfS named award winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Team Prize for Excellence in Primary Education! We are so proud! Thank you for your support!

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GSSfS named award winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Team Prize for Excellence in Primary Education! We are so proud! Thank you for your support! 〰️

The Great Science Share for Schools has been named winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Team Prize for Excellence in Primary Education in recognition of brilliance in chemistry education. The award recognises the campaign’s work inspiring 5-14 years olds in practical science, focused on pupils asking, investigating and sharing their scientific questions. Supported by a great many teachers, pupils and collaborators across the UK and reaching across the globe we have inspired so many opportunities for pupils to work scientifically asking, investigating and sharing scientific questions.

“This award is the first ‘whole team’ prize awarded to Great Science Share for Schools acknowledging our wider partners and supporters. It is significant in the way it recognises how so many people come together in supporting its growth and success. It’s a huge thank you to all of them. It is wonderful to receive recognition from the RSC and it acts as further inspiration for us to continue to make a difference to primary and secondary pupils’ learning of chemistry and other science disciplines.”

Founder of the GSSfS Professor Lynne Bianchi, Director of SEERIH at The University of Manchester”

The Excellence in Education Prizes celebrate inspirational, innovative, and dedicated people working in primary, secondary, further education and higher education – including teachers, technicians and more.

Thank you to all the teachers, pupils, partners and supporters taking part in GSSfS. We are delighted to share this news with you. Read more here: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/great-science-share-for-schools-wins-prestigious-royal-society-of-chemistry-prize/

Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them!

The Great Science Share for Schools annual share day on 11th June is fast approaching; curiosity and excitement are building! In preparation for your pupils asking, investigating and sharing their scientific questions, why not use these fabulous new resources from our friends at The Association for Science Education (ASE)?

The eight units supporting the development of enquiry skills (Image credit: ASE)

Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them: Getting to grips with enquiry is a series of 8 units to support teachers to explicitly teach the fundamental working scientifically and enquiry skills, to help pupils apply these to their own enquiries.

These resources have been developed through a collaboration between ASE and PSTT (Primary Science Teaching Trust) and are free to ASE members.

Read on to discover how you could use the resources to support pupils’ enquiry in your Great Science Share for Schools 2024.

Building on the more open-ended, exploratory approach of lower primary, Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them provides you with simple strategies and short activities to support upper primary pupils (aged 7-11) to develop a range of disciplinary knowledge and skills, which can subsequently be applied in their own scientific investigations.

Planning and Predicting (Image credit: ASE) Unit 3

Unit 3, all about planning and predicting, has been made open access and is freely available to all for The Great Science Share for Schools.

Let’s take a look at Unit 3: Planning and Predictions which will particularly be of value as children begin to consider their own Great Science Share. 

These resources support children to clarify what an enquiry is before they get too engrossed in planning details. Carefully considered predictions can encourage children to focus on the key variables of an enquiry. Unit 3 also helps children to make connections with their knowledge and everyday experiences in order to make informed predictions.

The resources include learning objectives, background information, teachers’ notes and pupils’ activity sheets – so they are really simple to just pick up and use.

The other units support different stages of the enquiry process, from explorations and questions, collecting data and explaining results.

Planning and Predicting example learning objectives, teachers’ notes and pupils’ activity sheet (Image credit: ASE)

• Unit 1: Encouraging Exploration

• Unit 2: From Questions to Enquiry

• Unit 3: Planning and Predicting

• Unit 4: Gathering Useful Evidence

• Unit 5: Collecting and Recording Results

• Unit 6 Presenting Results

• Unit 7: Describing and Explaining Results

• Unit 8: Evaluating Investigations

“Using Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them has really supported pupils developing robust skills and experiences which they can then confidently use and apply in their enquiries.”

— Teacher

You could use alongside the GSSfS Skills starter videos, which can be played direct to classrooms to help pupils develop essential skills of asking – investigating and sharing. New for GSSfS 2024, the Prediction Prompts provide age-appropriate scaffolds to support pupils.

Prediction Prompts for 5-7, 7-11 and 11-14 year olds (Image credit: GSSfS)

Leading up to your Great Science Share

The Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them activities are designed to be used flexibly, to support skill development and can be dipped in and out of as needed. Unit 3 (Planning and Predictions) can help pupils focus on the key variables of an enquiry in order to investigate and answer their own questions.

Professional Development for Teachers

Used as CPD, these Primary Science Skills and How to Teach Them resources support professional development and understanding of skill development and the role this plays in science teaching and learning.

How to get the Primary Science Skills resources

Unit 3 is open access at https://www.ase.org.uk/resources/pss-unit-3-planning-and-predicting

ASE members can access all 8 units of Primary Science Skills and How to teach Them at https://www.ase.org.uk/primary-science-skills and they are also available to purchase at https://www.millgatehouse.co.uk/product/primary-science-skills/ at £5.99 each (or ASE membership is just £45 per year).

This digital download resource, written by Tracy Tyrrell, is based on two books written by Anne Goldsworthy, Rod Watson and Valerie Wood-Robinson. Originally created for children aged 9-13, Getting to Grips with Graphs (1999) and Developing Understanding (2000), were the outcomes of the AKSIS project: a three-year research collaboration between the ASE and King’s College London, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

The Association for Science Education (ASE) is an active membership body that has been supporting all those involved in science education from pre-school to higher education for over 100 years. Members include teachers, technicians, tutors and advisers. 

We value the partnership between ASE and the #GSSfS2024.

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Jumping into the Great Sports Share

A choice of sports-linked enquiry questions - which will your pupils ask, investigate and share?

Feedback from teachers has been overwhelmingly encouraging as they leapt into asking and investigating scientific questions focused on sports and fitness as part of this year’s Great Sports Share.

This guided enquiry is a little different in that it provides teachers with an overarching framework for progression in working scientifically. Recognising how tricky it can be to support all learners to make progress in disciplinary knowledge, this framework is a go-to resource for all teachers.

The enquiry provides an open-ended question of What affects our performance during sport? As sport and fitness are already high priority in our curriculum timetable, this resource capitalises on cross-curricular opportunities linked to Physical Education, Maths and Computing. Pupils have chance to ask different types of questions, providing the right ingredients for an inclusive and inspirational set of investigations.

The enquiry is structured to enhance opportunities for pupils to gather and interpret evidence that they have collected and to share this in a range of ways.

During the trials of this enquiry, pupils asked, ‘Do taller people run faster?’, ‘Do longer arms throw further?’ - the choice and options are yours!

“The range of enquiry questions really allowed me to give the pupils more choice and ownership over their science learning. It was great that they selected different enquiry types and were able to recognise why each question was linked to a particular enquiry type”

— Lauren, St Margaret Mary's RC Primary School

The Great Sports Share Ideas for Questions resource provides a range of scientific questions linked to each enquiry type:
Pattern Seeking
Research by Secondary Sources
Comparative Fair Testing
Observation over Time
Identifying & Classifying

Harnessing SPORT To foster curiosity

Teachers explained that they were surprised at how invested and enthusiastic the pupils became in their own investigations. They explained that more time was given to practical learning and that working scientifically skills were improved due to the dedicated focus the enquiry provided. The collaborative nature of the task meant there was lots of opportunity to talk about planning, gathering evidence and how patterns were being found in the data.

“Pupils were really engaged from the start - it’s amazing what a timer and a meter stick can do! They were interested to see results and how this differed to the experiences of playing races on the playground!”

— Hannah, Vernon Park Primary School

Melissa, a teacher at Springfield Primary School, completed the Great Sports Share with her class of pupils, aged 5-6 years.

“By deciding on just one question to investigate as a whole class, I could really focus on the opportunities to model working scientifically. As my pupils were wholly invested in the practical activity they couldn’t wait to have a try on their own!”

Exploring equipment - “It is better to use quoits than balls because balls bounce and keep on rolling but quoits stop and stay where they land.” - Pupil, aged 6 years

“The pupils were really pleased when they realised this, we knew we had started to create aspirations early on in their lives.” - Teacher

Embracing cross-curricular links

Opportunities for cross-curricular links were purposeful and enhanced the level of practical work that took place usually.

“Are we doing science and PE together this afternoon? That is so cool - this is the best science lesson ever!” - Pupil, aged 11

Lots of the enquiry questions lent themselves to numerical data collection so teachers exploited the opportunity to put a real focus on different ways to present data the pupils had collected. From pictograms (5-7 year olds) to scattergraphs (10-11 year olds), their maths skills were applied to a real context with some choosing to use computers to create graphs.

what if…?

Christian, a teacher at Park View Community School, shared how impressed he was by the curiosity that this investigation created. His pupils were asking incredible questions and suggesting further investigations they could go on to complete to see if results could be improved. Questions included:

“How do athletes pick the shoes they wear? Do they try them all and see which ones help them to run the fastest?”

“I never thought about the size of someone’s hand and whether they are better at catching. Is that why some people are really good at rounders?”

“People with longer arms don’t always throw further… I wonder if they might have bigger muscles instead?”

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Been inspired? try out the Great SPORTS Share for your #GSSfS2024

Link your annual sports day with #GSSfS2024
An opportunity to have pupils playing sport and gathering data all at the same time!

With thanks to teachers Melissa, Lauren, Hannah, Christian, Rachael and their pupils.

Get in touch if you’d like to share your experiences, email greatscishare@manchester.ac.uk

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A QuBuild approach to improving the way pupils ask scientific questions

QuBuild: A guided approach to asking better scientific questions in primary schools, by Professor Lynne Bianchi and Tina Whittaker is a brand new book that will support the #GSSfS community!

Jenny Watson, Primary Science Education Specialist reviews…

Questioning is a fundamental part of both scientific research and also teaching and learning science – where, in both these cases, asking ‘good’ questions can stimulate thinking, enquiry and learning. Improving scientific questions, defined as ones that lead to evidence being gathered and analysed, results in more precise and valid investigations.

What’s the book about?

The premise of this book is that asking good scientific questions is a skill that, alongside other scientific skills such as measuring, recording and analysing data, reaching conclusions etc, should be explicitly taught to children in primary school. This will steer them to be better, more independent scientists – asking and answering their own questions about the world around them. This book will help teachers who want to empower their classes through child-led learning, yet recognise that asking and evaluating questions, is a tricky skill for children to acquire.

The ‘QuBuild Process’ provides a systematic 3-step approach to enable teachers to improve the scientific questions children ask. The first QuBuild step, ‘Question Producing’, encourages children to generate as many questions as possible to capture their curiosity about a particular topic. Step 2 involves the children collaboratively ‘Question handling’ – discussing, sorting and organising questions in different ways, so that all questions are valued, and children understand that different types of questions serve different purposes.

The third and final step of the QuBuild process involves children tweaking their questions - using ‘peer review’ to shape and improve the questions, that they now feel co-owners of, into ones suited to being answered by collecting evidence. They can then choose which question to take forward to answer themselves using an enquiry.

What does the book contain?

For each of the three QuBuild steps, the book provides classroom-ready resources – including introductory activities, learning tools that enable children to practise the skills, and finally, visual prompts to support children, now familiar with the approach, to recall what each of the QuBuild steps involve. For example, when producing a collection of questions, the introductory activities enable children to recognise the differences between questions and statements, and consider ways in which different types of scientist produce questions; the learning tools include various question makers (e.g. spinners, frames, ‘wonder bubbles’ and a teller); and the visual-prompt icon represents different children’s questions resulting from a stimulus provided by their teacher.

In addition to explaining the ‘QuBuild Process’ and providing tools that teachers can use to develop their class’s questions, the book also contains reflections from four teachers who have used the approach in different contexts, illustrating the impact it can have on teachers and children.

This book is a straightforward, yet important, read. It should help you empower your class to come up with better questions for purposeful enquiries which support not only the substantive and disciplinary parts of the national curriculum, but also the children’s curiosity as developing scientists and learners.

If you’re interested in QuBuild, click here

Welcome to the Great Science Share for Schools

It’s that exciting time of year again!

Download and access brand new resources to inspire your pupils to ask-investigate and share a scientific question. GSSfS is a unique campaign placing pupils at the heart of communicating science.

There are no boundaries to the wonderings and questions your pupils may have. Go with their own ideas for scientific questions to investigate, or be inspired by the Great Guided Enquiries which have been curated to inspire learning linked to real-world contexts and research.

Working scientifically is a skill.

GSSfS is an opportunity to review how we teach pupils the skills to work scientifically. This is an ideal time to plan for skills development in context, and use the Skills Starters and Great Science Toolkit to support high-quality learning in your classroom, and go on to inspire pupils with inspirational role models in Great Science People.

4 Great Enrichment Activities also give you resources to extend science learning into other subject areas. Link to literacy with poetry and letter writing, ponder on science and engage families and the community in club time.

What’s a science share like?

We encourage you to get started now and celebrate on the main sharing day on 11th June 2024. A science share can be anything where 2 or more pupils come together to show their enquiry to other people.

It has no limits to the amount of people who can take part. There is no defined time it should last for.

If the 11th June doesn’t work for you, simply move it to when it does! We are an inclusive campaign - you can flex the date to best suit your school timetable and commitments. More information about sharing will following in the coming weeks.

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“We look forward to finding out all about your GSSfS activities over social media. It’s a year to make the greatest difference yet and we’re so pleased to have you on board.”

— Grace Marson & Lynne Bianchi (Campaign Team)

The 30th Anniversary of British Science Week

As you’re ready to embark on a journey of scientific enquiry, encouraging collaboration and broadening opportunities to challenge stereotypes and inspire the wonders of science - both the Great Science Share for Schools and British Science Week offer direct support to teachers, educators and pupils.

By embracing the GSSfS value of collaboration we can all provide quality time this Spring and Summer to make a meaningful difference to pupils internationally.

Share your science using #BSW24 and #GSSfS2024

We are delighted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of British Science Week (8-17 March 2024) with the special theme of ‘Time’

British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths that will take place between 8-17 March 2024. Read on to discover how you can get involved.

How might you ask-investigate and share enquiries related to the of theme ‘Time’?

British Science Week has a broad theme each year. By adopting this theme we can inspire pupils to work scientifically on a wide range of scientific questions!

This year's theme, 'Time,' invites pupils to explore science from various perspectives.

Be inspired by delving into historical contexts, e.g. How does the magnetism of coins inform us about the availability of copper over the past 20 years?, or observing changes over time, in questioning ‘How can we increase the biodiversity of our school playground?’ there are no limits to your investigations.

Not sure where to begin? The BSW Activity packs offer plenty of starting points.

Support pupils with the GSSfS Question Makers resources to generate a wide range of questions. Watch this space for a brand new GSSfS Science Toolkit to further enhance the time your pupils take on their enquiry.

How can you get involved?

Organising a science day or week in your school has never been easier, thanks to the wealth of resources available for British Science Week and the Great Science Share for Schools to support pupils to explore the wonders of science and ask-investigate-share!

The 2024 BSW Activity Packs have just been launched with bespoke packs for EYFS, primary and secondary pupils. Each contains a wide range of fun, practical activities and useful information for planning your events for the week.

Take your British Science Week further… with #SmashingStereotypes

Discover diverse profiles of individuals in STEM from chefs to product designers and fitness professionals, showcasing how science is for everyone, whatever your interests, background or career path.

Smashing Stereotypes highlights people working in STEM who may not conform to the traditional image of who scientists are and what they do. The profiles are a great resource for teachers aiming to provide their pupils with STEM role models who they can identify with.

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Double the impact! Use your British Science Week investigations as part of your great science share 2024!

Use the timeline below to link up your British Science Week and #GSSfS2024 linking to CPD, CREST and funding opportunities!

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Want to find out more about GSSfS2024?

Sign up for the Great Science Share for Schools introductory webinar series beginning on 28th February with ‘New-to-GSSfS’.

I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! supports #GSSfS2024

When was the last time your pupils asked real scientists questions they were curious about?

Well no sooner will 2024 begin and you can do just that, with the GSSfS and I’m a Scientist Get Me Out of Here partnership.

It’s a simple and purposeful way to inspire your pupils to ask questions and get real-world responses direct through online chats.

How does it work? 

• Teachers book a Great Science Share themed chat at a convenient date and time.

• Scientists taking part have completed profiles so you can explore what they do, their skills, likes and attributes in advance.

• Pupils log on to a text-based chat where they can ask the scientists questions about how they use their working scientifically skills and what they are working on.

• Pupils can engage individually, in pairs or groups, or as a class – younger children could submit questions via their teacher.

“This is a fantastic way that pupils can challenge scientists during intense, fast-paced, online live chats. Having done it with my own class, I know how inspiring it is for pupils to ask all the questions they are curious about and get real-time responses!”

— Grace Marson, GSSfS National Lead

How can I be confident in this as a teacher?

The process is handled through a secure, moderated platform operated by the ‘I’m A Scientist’ team.

The chats are all safe, secure and moderated. The IAS team keep an eye on questions and responses and teachers can also have control.  

How can IAS support your GSSfS? 

Enrich your pupils’ experience of the Great Science Share by connecting with scientists who are asking questions, investigating and sharing their results.

A great way to give more depth to working scientifically in the curriculum. Pupils can ask questions to better understand the skills, processes and methods used in real-world science.

Through live chats and follow up questions, pupils can make connections between what they do and the scientists working in different areas including climate and sustainability. 

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This year, there’s a special Great Science Share for Schools Theme running in 2024 from January to June.

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Want to find out more?
Sign up for the Great Science Share for Schools I’m a Scientist webinar on 17th January, 3:45-4:30pm.   

“It’s all part of the bigger picture of enabling them to see further study as a viable opportunity. It’s not just done by other people; it can actually be done by people like them.”

— Teacher

Asking questions with Mary Anning

The Association for Science Education’s (ASE) award-winning Mary Anning – A fossil hunter’s story resource offers an inspiring context for question asking-investigating and sharing.

The Mary Anning Project provides a set of resources for primary school pupils and their teachers

This cross-curricular resource includes a short award-winning film, SEA DRAGON, which sets the scene for the whole project, introduces Mary, and reflects the themes and main ideas being addressed through the learning activities.

Credit: Jo Montgomery

“I feel that I have gained so much as a teacher through my reflection on my own learning alongside the children.”

— Teacher

This interactive resource features a series of core and enrichment activities presented as four topics:
> Fossil hunter Mary
> Strange creatures
> The end of the line
> Evidence, beliefs and ideas.

Collectively, these activities give insights into Mary’s life, explore the science of fossils and reflect on the influence of historical, cultural and religious thinking in changing ideas.

Inspire your pupils
The story of fossil hunter Mary Anning and her amazing discoveries provides the context for the project’s learning resources for 9-11 year olds. A compelling 15-minute film about the young Mary sets the scene for the enquiry-based, cross-curricular activities through which children explore the lives, ideas and events in the early 19th century that were significant in the development of scientific ideas and thinking. The story of a child of their own age who was driven by curiosity about the natural world and the origins of life is engaging and inspiring for today’s pupils and aligns with The Great Science Share for Schools 2024 theme of ‘Sustainable Science’.

Tackling tricky topics
Through these resources and professional learning strategies, teachers can better support pupils’ understanding of evolution, the nature of scientific enquiry and the strengths and limitations of scientific knowledge. Not just for upper primary learning about evolution and inheritance, or fossil formation and rocks and soils; these resources also support the disciplinary knowledge and skills, or process of ‘doing science’.

Support for students
The activities support the use of dialogic teaching, in which children express and share their ideas in group or whole class discussion and teachers encourage children to explain their thinking. The enquiry-based approach emphasises the role in learning of the identification of questions, and the collection and use of evidence in seeking answers – just as The Great Science Share for Schools promotes.

Flexibility
The activities are designed to be used flexibly, mainly in science lessons but in some cases are equally appropriate in history, religious education and English. Each activity includes key questions, curriculum links and vocabulary, what children do and learn, classroom resources plus background information for teachers.

Professional Development for Teachers
Used as CPD, teachers can better engage different disciplinary teaching approaches and philosophical perspectives, to raise science capital and support every child including those regarded as low prior attainment and/or with typically low levels of interest in science. 

This resource can inspire many questions to be asked

What now?
- Watch and use the resources with your pupils.
- Integrate the use of the GSSfS Question Makers to inspire pupils to ask questions freely
- Use the GSSfS Skills Starters to move the pupils towards an enquiry question they’re interested in
Then what?
Share, share, share! Try out the GSSfS Share Spinners this year!

Want to know more about how great this resource could be for your pupils? See the ASE’s Mary Anning impact story here.

The Association for Science Education (ASE) is an active membership body that has been supporting all those involved in science education from pre-school to higher education for over 100 years. Members include teachers, technicians, tutors and advisers. 

We value the partnership between ASE and the #GSSfS2024.

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Remember you can meet the GSSfS team at the ASE 2024 Annual Conference, 04 January 2024 - 06 January 2024, 08:00 - 16:30
The ASE's 2024 flagship Annual Conference takes place at the University of Northampton's Waterside Campus in January, from the 4th to the 6th inclusive.

For more information click here ASE 2024 Annual Conference | www.ase.org.uk

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