Investigating learning in science at the primary school level

The Place of Children's Questions in Primary Science Education

“…To many primary teachers, teaching science means transmitting a predetermined body of scientific knowledge to children (Biddulph, Osborne 8c Freyberg, 1983;Symington & Osborne, 1984) either through the use of various cuing strategies to lead children to the 'right answers' (Biddulph, 1982b) or through guideddiscovery (Appleton, Hawe, Biddulph, Hamill & Gregan, 1984). Other teachers tend to view primary science as a vehicle for developing children's language ability rather than developing their ideas about the natural world (Biddulph, Osborne & Freyberg, 1983). Neither view would be likely to encourage teachers to promote pupil questioning.…”

“…The obstacles to teachers making use of children's questions in primary science education may seem rather formidable, but early in the Learning in Science Project (Primary) members of the team received positive comments from participating teachers about the use of children's questions in science (Biddulph, Osborne & Freyberg, 1983) and these comments, along with the research support for the use of children's questions in teaching and learning science, encouraged Project team members to explore ways of overcoming some of the difficulties. The result has been the production of a series of some 33 research working papers and finally a set of guide booklets for teachers entitled Making Sense of our World: an interactive teaching approach (Biddulph & Osborne, 1984).…”

“…(iii) A number of teachers feel that their own background in science is inadequate and they therefore lack confidence in teaching it (Biddulph, Osborne & Freyberg, 1983;Symington 8c Osborne, 1984). As a consequence they do not wish to exacerbate their own sense of unease by encouraging children to ask questions, some of which may be awkward for them to handle (Young, 1983).…”

“…This initiative is based on our finding that there are common questions across classrooms and even across countries (Biddulph, Osborne & Freyberg, 1983). For example, on the topic 'Spiders' we have found that the question "How do spiders make their webs?"…”

ASERA: brief histor(y/ies)

“…When Roger Osborne commenced a new project, the Learning in Science (Primary) Project (Biddulph, Osborne and Freyberg 1983), I spent six months working with him and his team on sabbatical. This experience transformed my thinking about research, learning science, teaching science, and elementary science teacher education.…”