Pupils' perceptions of practical science in primary and secondary school: implications for improving progression and continuity of learning

Abstract

In spite of the introduction of a National Curriculum in UK schools and the improved progression and continuity that it promised, pupils still have problems with learning when they transfer from primary to secondary school. These problems are particularly acute in science. One approach is to provide a programme of ‘bridging work’, focused on practical science, that is started in the primary school and continued in the secondary school. The research reported here explored pupils' perceptions and experiences of science practical work before and after transfer to secondary school. The implications of the findings for the design of bridging work in science are discussed.

Keywords:

• Continuity
• Practical work
• Progression
• Science
• Transfer

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust in providing funds to support the project to develop and evaluate the teaching of bridging units in science. We should also like to thank the 13 project teachers who administered the questionnaires with their pupils and our colleague, Dr Rosemary Webb, for her comments on previous drafts of this paper.