Can current science research in the biological sciences be used in primary school children’s scientific enquiry?

ABSTRACT

Topics associated with the biological sciences form a significant fraction of the curriculum in science at primary school level in the U.K. In this methodology paper we demonstrate how a wide range of research articles associated with the biological sciences can be disseminated to a primary school audience and how children can carry out investigations associated with cutting-edge research in the classroom. We discuss how the articles and accompanying Teacher Guides benefit children, primary teachers and other stakeholders including the researchers themselves. We define four types of research articles; ones that can be used in the primary school setting without much adaptation, others where an aspect can be used and some where an analogy can be used. For other research papers, it is not possible to mirror the research at all, but the area of the research is interesting to primary aged children and can be adapted so that they can see the impact of the science on real life. We provide exemplars of each type and some preliminary feedback on articles written.

KEYWORDS:

• primary science curriculum
• cutting-edge research
• children

Acknowledgments

We thank the PSTT and Bristol ChemLabS under whose auspices much of this work was carried out. We also thank BBSRC (BB/T018933) for additional funding in support of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Primary Science Teaching Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/T018933/1].