Paying lip-service to research? The adoption of a constructivist perspective to inform science teaching in the English curriculum context

Abstract

Constructivism is a widely influential perspective in science education research. However, there have been strong criticisms of attempts to adopt constructivism as a principle underpinning official science curriculum policy (for example in New Zealand). Over the past decade recommendations for classroom pedagogy in extensive official guidance (particularly through the ‘National Strategy’) issued to science teachers working in England have explicitly drawn upon constructivist principles. Yet there has been little public debate about this aspect of the guidance, or its reception by teachers, and there are reasons to expect that the potential impact of the recommendations has been severely compromised by the nature of the guidance, and the wider curriculum context. As recent substantive curriculum revisions rely upon science teachers adopting new pedagogy, research is indicated to explore how teachers construe and respond to pedagogic recommendations disseminated through official guidance.

Keywords:

• constructivism
• curriculum guidance
• English National Curriculum
• learners' misconceptions
• National Strategy
• official pedagogy