Celebrating Science in Primary Schools This week I hosted a celebration of Primary Biosciences, supported by the Wellcome Trust. It’s a programme designed to introduce upper primary pupils to the biological sciences in the world around us. Each of seven primary schools is links with a biological scientist working in an industrial or academic setting. These bioscientists each spent a day with a class in their partner school. They explain how they use science in their work and take the class through a short project. During the spring term, helped by their scientists, pupils have been developing more extended projects associated with their scientists work, in areas like food technology, the psychology of learning and the biochemistry of water. The significance of events like these should not be underestimated. NISP Connect has a vision that Northern Ireland will become a leading entrepreneurial knowledge economy by 2030. The children currently in our upper primary classes will be in their late twenties in 2030. Their contribution to the local economy, and to achieving NISP Connect’s vision, will be severely limited unless science is given a more serious place in the primary curriculum now. The central role of science was reinforced by its inclusion as a component of transfer tests at eleven. However, the effect of this was mixed, as testing resulted in much more content-oriented science teaching and less investigative learning in those schools that entered pupils for the tests. In particular, teaching of the physical sciences, which support our construction and manufacturing industries, has declined significantly, for example by 45% in electricity, and over 65% in light and sound. If our primary school pupils are to develop into our next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators, then they must be given more opportunities to see how science works in the real world, and to build skills essential to gaining employment in these growing industries in later years.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 17:59:18 +0000
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