Primary Science: Teaching Theory and Practice

John Sharp is Professor of Higher Education and Head of the Lincoln Higher Education Research Institute (LHERI) at the University of Lincoln. Graham Peacock is Principal Lecturer in Education at Sheffield Hallam University. He has taught children across the primary and secondary age ranges. Rob Johnsey, formerly a primary school teacher, lectured in primary science in the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick for several years. Shirley Simon is Lecturer in the School of Education at King′s College, London. I was appointed Lecturer in Sociology in 2012. I am currently PhD Programme Co-ordinator and convenor of three undergraduate modules. My research and teaching is concerned with the everyday life of urban public spaces. I am interested in, and encourage students to take an interest in, both the street-level politics of city life and the mundane accomplishment of mobility practices and interaction. These themes have been addressed through research on everyday sense-making in regenerated space, practices of street-based welfare and vulnerable urban groups and, most recently, an investigation of co-operative mobility practices. I also have an abiding interest in social science methodology as a topic of inquiry.

Introduction
The nature of scientific understanding
Processes and methods of scientific enquiry
Children’s ideas
Science in the Foundation Stage
Teaching strategies
Planning
Classroom organisation and management
Assessment, recording and reporting
Using ICT in science
Health and safety