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.”
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.