The potential of earth science for the development of primary school science DENISE JOAN BALMER A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Institute of Education, University College London February 2019 1 Declaration I, Denise Joan Balmer, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed Date Word Count: (excluding references and appendices) 94,788 2 Contents Contents ...................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 7 Acronyms .................................................................................................................... 8 List of Tables .............................................................................................................. 9 List of Figures ........................................................................................................... 11 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 13 1.1 My research impetus ............................................................................................... 13 1.2 Researcher’s background ...................................................................................... 15 1.3 Context of my research ........................................................................................... 17 1.4 Outline of research .................................................................................................. 24 2 Review of literature pertaining to thesis .............................................................. 26 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 26 2.2 What is science? ..................................................................................................... 27 2.3 Why teach science in schools – general points .................................................... 31 2.4 What should be in a school science primary curriculum ..................................... 37 2.5 When to teach science in the curriculum .............................................................. 44 2.6 How to teach science .............................................................................................. 45 2.7 How we learn science ............................................................................................. 55 2.8 Attitudes towards science ...................................................................................... 64 2.8.1 Children’s attitudes towards science ................................................................. 64 2.9 The way forward ...................................................................................................... 68 3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 70 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 70 3.2 Methodology behind the data collection ............................................................... 72 3.3 Secondary data collection ...................................................................................... 77 3.4 Links between the data sources and the Research Questions ............................ 78 4 Data collection and findings from trainee teacher background science experiences questionnaire ....................................................................................... 79 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 79 4.2 Results from the first part of the questionnaire about primary school science ........................................................................................................................... 80 4.3 Results from the questions about secondary science ......................................... 82 4.4 Results concerning non-school science activities ............................................... 84 4.5 Summary and conclusions ..................................................................................... 86 5 Data collection and findings from the primary science leaders’ survey ............ 88 3 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 88 5.2 Method ..................................................................................................................... 88 5.3 Findings from the PSL questionnaires .................................................................. 89 5.4 Nested epistemologies ........................................................................................... 99 6 Data collection and findings from the intervention lessons ............................. 106 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 106 6.2 The pilot intervention lessons .............................................................................. 108 6.3 The intervention lessons 2016 ............................................................................. 111 6.4 Results from the intervention lessons in School A ............................................ 113 6.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 130 6.6 Intervention lessons in school B.......................................................................... 141 6.7 The intervention lessons in school B .................................................................. 143 6.8 Results from the soil science intervention lessons in school B ........................ 144 6.9 Discussion of the soil day in school B ................................................................ 149 6.10.Summary of intervention lessons in both schools ........................................... 153 7 Data collection and findings from secondary data ................................................ 155 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 155 7.2 Results of the ESEU data collection .................................................................... 156 7.3 Discussion of the ESEU CPD results ................................................................... 165 7.4 Method of SATRO data collection and findings .................................................. 166 7.5 Results of the SATRO workshop evaluation ....................................................... 168 8 Discussion of findings ........................................................................................ 178 8.1 Discussion of findings for RQ1: To what extent does a trainee primary teacher’s own childhood experience affect their approach to teaching science? . 178 8.2 Discussion of findings for RQ2: What do primary teachers think of science and how do they consider it should be taught? ....................................................... 181 8.3 Discussion of RQ3: Can earth science help primary teachers to be more confident about teaching science? ............................................................................ 186 8.4 Discussion of RQ4: Can earth science enrich primary children’s science understanding? ........................................................................................................... 192 8.5 Potential of Earth Science for the development of primary science…... 196 8.6 Contribution to knowledge of the thesis ............................................................. 199 8.7 Summing up .......................................................................................................... 200 8.8 Limitations of the thesis ....................................................................................... 202 8.9 Validity of this research and ethical considerations .......................................... 203 8.10 The way forward .................................................................................................. 204 8.11 My journey through this research ...................................................................... 206 References .............................................................................................................. 208 4 Appendices ............................................................................................................. 234 Appendix 1 Questionnaire to Trainee Teachers ........................................................ 234 Appendix 2 Questionnaire to Primary School Teachers .......................................... 240 Appendix 6 Earth Science Education Unit evaluation form page 1 ......................... 242 Appendix 3 Soil story .................................................................................................. 244 Appendix 4 We all learnt today (WALT) sheet ........................................................... 245 Appendix 5 Children’s comments about soil ...........................................................