Teaching science process skills

The effects of teaching science with a special emphasis on process skills were investigated with Year 7, 8 and 9 classes, in a study employing experimental and control groups. The 28‐week intervention proved to be particularly effective in promoting science process skills and in raising the Piagetian development level in Year 8 males. In delayed post‐tests nine or ten weeks after the intervention, the positive effects on cognitive ability were still present. The results are interpreted in terms of ‘readiness’, associated with a spurt in brain development.