What does it mean to be an expert primary science practitioner? How do primary teachers use science subject knowledge in their practice? This book addresses these questions from a sociocultural perspective, challenging currently influential constructivist accounts. It treats the nature of teacher expertise as a dynamic capacity exemplified by those who are recognised as experts in their local communities of practice. In line with this, it provides an in-depth case study of the perspective and practices of a primary science teacher who is locally and more widely recognised as an expert practitioner. One of the conclusions is that primary science expertise is eclectic in character, requiring the employment, in a flexible way, of a variety of forms of knowledge, views of learning, and teaching strategies in order to deal successfully with the contingent situations faced in the classroom. The study of expertise-in-action is particularly important at a time when teaching is increasingly configured in terms of competencies and standards. Its implications for the education of primary science practitioners are profound. Students on education courses, teachers, and researchers will find this book of value for its careful exploration of arguments about the nature of knowledge and learning, and how these are implicated in classroom practice.

There are many expert teachers working in the global South and we can learn a great deal from them. Neither of these claims should be surprising, yet to date there has been almost no research conducted on expert teachers working in Southern contexts. Instead, the huge sums of money invested in attempting to improve teacher quality in the South have frequently been directed towards introducing exogenous practices or interventions that may be culturally inappropriate, practically infeasible and ultimately unsustainable – often failing as a result. In this pioneering book, Jason Anderson provides an authoritative overview of the practices, cognition and professionalism of expert teachers working in low-income contexts. By drawing upon both systematic reviews of teacher expertise and effectiveness research, and his own fieldwork in India, he argues that without an understanding of expert teachers working in all contexts worldwide, we cannot truly understand expertise itself.

This fully updated third edition brings science subject knowledge and pedagogy together to support, inform and inspire those training to teach primary science. Written in a clear and accessible way, Teaching Primary Science provides comprehensive coverage of a wide range of science themes. With a brand new chapter on STEM education, additional guidance on where to find the best resources, and increased emphasis on assessment, story-telling and problem-solving, this book shows how science can offer children pleasure and intellectual satisfaction and help them to develop sound scientific minds. Key features include: Ideas for practice exemplify how you can help children to acquire and use scientific knowledge to satisfy their curiosity about how the natural world works. Something to think about scenarios help to extend and develop your own understanding of key ideas. Examples of classroom situations, dialogues and stories help you see how theory is applied to practice and support you in reflecting on the best methods for teaching. Global Dimension sections offer starting points for discussion and research into how scientific ideas can be positively applied and used to evaluate the impact of human activity on the natural world. Talk Skills and Science Discussion sections enable you to develop children’s scientific knowledge and verbal reasoning skills.

This book presents the research output of the Dutch project VTB-Pro, an internationally-oriented project that aimed at providing primary school teachers with the knowledge, abilities and attitudes that are necessary to implement science and technology education in their classes. An introductory chapter by Wynne Harlen and Pierre Lena positions this project in the international context. From the Foreword by Dr. Michel Rocard: I have been pleased to discover the VTB-Pro three-years project carried in the Netherlands (Broadening technological education in primary school). Focusing on professional development of teachers and presenting first hand testimonies and research, the present book demonstrates how to deal with this issue, so critical for a renewed pedagogy. With proper methods, the knowledge of science, the interest in science and technology, the pedagogical skills can all be improved among teachers who often have no or little affection for science.

Small-scale Research in Primary Schools provides guidance and inspiration for students and practitioners undertaking practical investigations and workplace enquiry in the primary school. The 30 chapters are carefully selected to illustrate a range of approaches to educational enquiry, and are particularly relevant to the range of practitioners who may carry out school-based research as part of a course of study: teachers, trainee- and newly-qualified teachers, teaching assistants, learning mentors and staff who support children with individual needs. Research topics addressed in chapters include children’s learning in the core curriculum subjects as well as themes central to teaching and learning. Important concepts and terminology are highlighted throughout. More specifically, areas of research explored include: Play Special Educational Needs Working with parents and families English as an Additional Language Creativity Language development Learning environments Small-scale Research in Primary Schools provides a straightforward, highly accessible introduction to enquiry approaches and research methodologies, and the questions and challenges adults in schools encounter about children’s learning. It shows how small-scale research in primary education can impact on professional thinking and learning. It aims to provide constructive support for students and practitioners in extending their knowledge and understanding through workplace enquiry.

There has been a growing interest in the notion of a scholarship of teaching. Such scholarship is displayed through a teacher’s grasp of, and response to, the relationships between knowledge of content, teaching and learning in ways that attest to practice as being complex and interwoven. Yet attempting to capture teachers’ professional knowledge is difficult because the critical links between practice and knowledge, for many teachers, is tacit. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) offers one way of capturing, articulating and portraying an aspect of the scholarship of teaching and, in this case, the scholarship of science teaching. The research underpinning the approach developed by Loughran, Berry and Mulhall offers access to the development of the professional knowledge of science teaching in a form that offers new ways of sharing and disseminating this knowledge. Through this Resource Folio approach (comprising CoRe and PaP-eRs) a recognition of the value of the specialist knowledge and skills of science teaching is not only highlighted, but also enhanced. The CoRe and PaP-eRs methodology offers an exciting new way of capturing and portraying science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge so that it might be better understood and valued within the profession. This book is a concrete example of the nature of scholarship in science teaching that is meaningful, useful and immediately applicable in the work of all science teachers (preservice, in-service and science teacher educators). It is an excellent resource for science teachers as well as a guiding text for teacher education. Understanding teachers' professional knowledge is critical to our efforts to promote quality classroom practice. While PCK offers such a lens, the construct is abstract. In this book, the authors have found an interesting and engaging way of making science teachers' PCK concrete, useable, and meaningful for researchers and teachers alike. It offers a new and exciting way of understanding the importance of PCK in shaping and improving science teaching and learning. Professor Julie Gess-Newsome Dean of the Graduate School of Education Williamette University This book contributes to establishing CoRes and PaP-eRs as immensely valuable tools to illuminate and describe PCK. The text provides concrete examples of CoRes and PaP-eRs completed in “real-life” teaching situations that make stimulating reading. The authors show practitioners and researchers alike how this approach can develop high quality science teaching. Dr Vanessa Kind Director Science Learning Centre North East School of Education Durham University

All the subject knowledge you need to teach primary science. The essential subject knowledge text for primary science. Secure subject knowledge and understanding is the foundation of confident, creative and effective teaching. This comprehensive text, covering the whole primary curriculum, includes interactive tasks, self-assessment questions and links to other resources in all chapters. Primary science matters. This 10th edition includes links to the ITT Core Content Framework and new content on children’s common misconceptions in science.

Researchers who conduct ethnography in science education tend to have a deep commitment for transforming science to improve the lives of people in underserved communities. This edited volume explores how contemporary ethnographers in science education bring to light the local production of scientific knowledge and the ways it is implicated in larger social and political struggles. Ethnographies in science education contribute to understanding the experiences of linguistically, racially, and economically diverse populations who have been historically excluded from participation in science. An anthropological approach has also been instrumental in explicating the situated practices by which students enact science in the classroom and in their lives beyond schools. This edited volume brings together ethnographers in science education to contribute a global perspective on science teaching and learning in school and university classrooms, at home, and after school programs. Included are examples of ethnography in science education from the UK, Argentina, Canada, and the USA in which contributors point to promising directions for theorizing the ‘culture’ of science education as we undertake educational reform. The authors in this volume argue that ethnography is not only a valid approach for the study of science education, but also they contend that it is essential to the development of more equitable practices for instruction and learning. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnography and Education.

This book addresses the nature of subject knowledge in all foundation curriculum subjects. It deconstructs the elements of each subject through an exploration of the nature of the subject, a coverage of the ′skills′ a study of this subject develops and through detailed analysis of case studies from practice.

Science education has to be improved in order to become more responsive to the needs of society confronted with a rapidly changing world. Bringing science teaching up to a higher level is a key factor in this endeavour. The authors of this book think about teachers as part of the immediate and large communities and systems in which they function. They consider the development of teachers’ professional knowledge as a continuous process that depends on the communities they are committed to and participate in, the discipline they are teaching, the social context in which they perform, the instruments made available in their environment, and their day-to-day classroom experience. From this perspective, each teacher learns in an individual way, but cannot learn without relying on their colleagues and other partners. Such professional knowledge is partly tacit and explicit, and thus possessed by teachers, experts and researchers. Coordinating activity theory and models of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the book provides a better understanding of the growth of science teacher professional knowledge. The chapters are organised around shared perspectives and themes and based on research findings. The emerging model can inform pre-service teacher educators, researchers and students. The book results from exchanges and symposia during international conferences (ECER, ESERA) and from a two-day seminar held at Université Grenoble Alpes in March 2015.