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Fifteen Pupils' Positive Approach Turner and Ireson - Coggle Diagram
Fifteen Pupils' Positive Approach
Turner and Ireson
Results
Year 2 pupils "exhibit a thirst for knowledge and enthusiasm for science"
Enthusiasm declines throughout school and attitudes were fixed before the beginning of Year 6 and do not change
Therefore, good quality primary science teaching is crucial
Enthusiasm for science at beginning of school, despite its perceived difficulty (Pell & Jarvis, 2001)
All children enjoy experiments more than they enjoy science generally (West et al., 1997)
YEAR 2
- enthusiastic about their science lessons and have a good understanding of what scientists do, but were not certain if they wanted to pursue science outside of school or as a career. Less enthusiastic about literacy based tasks.
YEAR 6
- children know what they should do in lessons, do not engage with science in their leisure time, not interested in pursing it as a career
Results show that attitudes do change between Year 2 and 6 but do not enlighten as to when enthusiasm diminishes
Some suggest that they do not improve from 9 onwards
Primary school is a crucial time for development
Looking at pupils' attitudes to science and if they become fixed at primary, as has been suggested (Turner, 2008)
Investigated attitudes to science at end of KS1 and end of KS2 (questionnaires and task based on Klopfer's themes)
Pupil paired task / Group interviews / Questionnaires: Test of Attitudes / Observations
Pre and post Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) was used for Year 6 pupils
Responses ranked using a Likert scale
Questionnaires analysed using mean and chi square values
Questionnaires - allow collection of a large quantity of data, but interpretations of data many vary - limitation of their use
Looking at their view of science lesson activities and when attitudes become fixed and why
Observations allowed for a deeper level of understanding of science teaching, but observations may lead to altered behaviour in the observees
Two schools for Year 6 data and six schools for Year 2
Reasons for enthusiasm decline
Curriculum content
Teaching
Little or no practical work experienced by some children
Lack of time
For science generally, but especially for practicals
Numeracy and literacy are dominant
Lack of resources/equipment
Science timetabled for afternoon when children are tired or lacking in concentration
Teachers
Teh researchers recognised teachers as a major influencing factor on the development of children's attitudes so designed a questionnaire to gauge teacher attitudes towards teaching science
Findings show teachers enjoyed teaching science and were confident
Previous research suggests teachers have poor subject knowledge in science, but that was not found in this study
From observations, researchers found teachers regularly used practicals and the Interactive Whiteboard, both of which the children enjoyed
As we need for scientists for the future, we must pay attention to children's declining interest during primary school. If pupils are decidedly set against science by the time they reach secondary school, teachers must do more to engage pupils.
Study suggests use of more innovative and creative activities to make lessons more fun and steering away from activities pupils see as boring, including sitting down, listening for too long and writing heavily.