Impact case study database

The Thinking Science resources were co-produced with teachers between 2016 and 2018 and designed for secondary school science lessons focused on UK Key Stage 3 (KS3) National Curriculum. They are available as a free online download and as a booklet. The resources have combatted ‘the lack of space in the current curriculum for considering societal and cultural influences on science and pedagogical approaches in schools that are focused on “direct instruction” and “exposition” by teachers’ [5.1].

The resources have been endorsed by trusted science education organisations, including the Association for Science Education (ASE) – the largest subject association in the UK; STEM Learning – the UK’s largest provider of education and careers support in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and Scientix – the European Hub for Science Education. This has secured the resources’ reputation and helped increase their reach.

The resources received an excellent review from the ASE’s School Science Review journal, which is widely distributed in the UK and has a sizeable overseas readership. ASE quoted ‘every now and again a resource appears that just makes you stop and wish that you could find more of them; this is one of those resources… This is a very good resource for starter activities to stimulate discussions at the beginning of lessons and get the pupils motivated to learn. It could also be used to develop thinking skills in pupils… Overall, this is an excellent resource.’ [5.2].

After presenting at three consecutive ASE national annual conferences between 2016-2019 (the largest science education conference in Europe), Ladyman and colleagues in University of Bristol’s Public Engagement team were invited to contribute an article for the journal to reach the wider ASE audience (6,500 educators in the UK and 500 overseas) [5.3]. The team were also invited to contribute to STEM Learning CPD for teachers in 2019; 88% of attendees rated the Thinking Science session as the most useful element of the CPD [5.4].

The Thinking Science project has had the following impacts:

1. Transforming curriculums in a Multi-Academy Trust and other UK schools

2. Improving teacher practice, specifically teacher questioning

3. Improving school students’ engagement and learning in science

4. Improving the education of trainee teachers in science

5. Inspiring the development of new teaching resources

1. Transforming Curriculums in a Multi-Academy Trust and Other UK Schools

The Thinking Science resources have been embedded in the curriculum at the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), a multi-academy trust with 20 primary and secondary academies in the Bristol area with 11,000 students on roll and a high proportion of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and Rainham School for Girls, a non-selective academy in Kent with 1,600 students on roll.

The CLF were partners on the project with science teachers collaborating to co-produce the resources. The CLF’s Senior Network Leader for Science was appointed as the teacher consultant throughout the project. Between 2017-2020, training based on Thinking Science was delivered to over 60 teachers at the CLF. As a result of their collaboration, the CLF have considerably redeveloped their science curriculum across all 20 academies, to frame topics around philosophical questions [5.5]. This has led to better engagement from students and more inclusive lessons [5.6]. The Senior Network Leader for Science is also better able to support other teachers to use philosophical questioning techniques in their lessons [5.5].

At Rainham School for Girls, teachers have used Thinking Science to redevelop curriculum content around “big questions” and philosophical enquiry [5.6]. This has positively impacted student learning, with teachers reporting that their ‘students are so much more engaged in Science and this is also having a positive impact on their attainment’ [5.6].

1. Improving Teacher Practice, Specifically Teacher Questioning

Since 2017, 380 teachers and trainee teachers have received training based on the Thinking Science resources and methodology. The online resources have been downloaded over 850 times and 900 hard copies have been distributed nationally. The training sessions were rated 4 or 5 stars out of 5 by 99% of teachers and 100% found the training useful for improving confidence in using philosophy in the science classroom [5.4]. The Senior Network Leader for Science at the CLF noticed an improvement in teachers’ use of questions as a result of using the resources [5.5] and teachers themselves have reported that the resources have helped them improve their questioning skills, in turn giving students access to higher-order ideas [5.6].

1. Improving School Students’ Engagement and Learning in Science

Improving teacher practice has led to an improvement in student engagement and learning in science. Teachers have reported that the resources:

• Engage those not normally engaged in science [5.6]

• ‘Students who are often disengaged with science will tend to get involved in the activity’ (Head of KS3 Science, Launceston College, Cornwall)

• ‘The ideas are accessible to all levels, which means everyone can get involved. What has been nice is seeing some of the less engaged learners furiously leap to disagree with a classmate and thereby involve themselves in lessons’ (Science Teacher, The Ridgeway School, Wiltshire)

• ‘Pupil engagement was high… One of the best moments was when I gave a selective mute pupil the role of scribe, and so he had the chance to develop his group's ideas in a tweet. He felt confident enough at the end to read it out to the class! It was awesome’ (Science Teacher, Bristol)

• Improve oracy, literacy and scientific literacy skills [5.6]

• ‘They provide fertile ground for class discussion, which gives me an opportunity to promote their oracy skills such as answering in full phrases and referring to ideas their other classmates have said. This skill then makes their writing in exams more coherent and nuanced’ (Science Teacher, The Ridgeway School, Wiltshire)

• Highlight student misconceptions in curriculum content [5.5]

• ‘[The resources] reveal the depth of [students’] understanding – including misconceptions - which allow teachers to re-teach certain areas’ (Senior Network Leader for Science, CLF)

1. Improving the Education of Trainee Teachers in Science

The project has delivered training on secondary science and primary PGCE programmes nationally: at the University of Bristol since 2016, at the University of York (2018) and at Bath Spa University (2020), reaching 243 PGCE students. In addition to the benefits to teacher practice outlined in 2 above, Thinking Science has improved the education of trainee teachers in science by ‘combat[ting] the simplistic views that student teachers often bring to the PGCE course – that there is one right way to teach and that teachers should be able to answer all pupils’ questions and offer the right solutions’ [5.1].

At the University of Bristol, Thinking Science is now embedded into the PGCE curriculum and has become a significant framing for the course [5.1]. Students have been using the resources from their first placement and many continue to use them [5.1]. One former student wrote a blog post for the STEM Learning website (reaching thousands of teachers) about her experience with the resources, writing ‘I first came across Thinking Science as a PGCE student. I use this resource endlessly’ [5.7].

At the University of York, Thinking Science has given student teachers a deeper understanding of their discipline. ‘There is little attention to the philosophy of science (even less to philosophical inquiry) … in initial teacher education, but I believe this is an important component of critical, reflective teachers who understand their discipline well. The University of Bristol resources fill a gap…’ [5.8].

The effectiveness of Thinking Science in teacher training, teacher practice and for students is summarised in this statement from York: ‘ Thinking Science is very clearly influenced by teachers and the realities of demands in school. The associated professional development demonstrates how teachers can use the resources little and often, which is important for many teachers who do not see philosophy as a priority. At the same time, the workshop provides a strong rationale for why it is a priority. The pedagogical strategies that go alongside promote learning through reflective dialogue and correspond well to what is known about how science learning works. I have implemented many of these strategies into my teaching. Thinking Science will continue to be used at York for the foreseeable future’ [5.8].

1. Inspiring the development of new teaching resources

The success of Thinking Science has inspired the production of other teaching resources. In 2017, Dr Genevieve Liveley, Reader in Classics at University of Bristol, developed ‘Science of Stories’: ( http://www.bristol.ac.uk/classics/hub/resources/) based directly on the design and concept of Thinking Science. Supported by the national charity Classics for All, ‘Science of Stories’ has been distributed to over 600 schools across the UK for use in school science lessons, cross-curricular lunchtime and breakfast clubs, gifted and talented groups, debate groups, storytelling societies, and extra-curricular Classics clubs. One teacher reports that the ‘cross-curricular thinking’ that Science of Stories inspires has ‘changed teaching practice’; another that the school has ‘used the science of stories resources as a way to enrich the teaching practice of the science department, using it as a form of extension and differentiation’ [5.9].