EPSP01 Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach: opportunity for professional development (invite only) RN198 / E21

The Spaceport Enthuse Partnership is offering the opportunity to take part in a professional development course on the ‘primary science capital teaching approach’ (PSCTA). This is an evidence-based approach to teaching science which utilises a range of strategies and to promote children’s engagement and identification with science. The approach works with any curriculum and utilises a series of minor changes to practice to create more equitable science teaching.  The aim of the programme is to shine a light on the important role that primary teachers can play in creating inclusive science learning experiences for all children.

How does this help the school?

This is a professional development opportunity for your school and teachers, to encourage children to pursue a future in science and participate positively in science lessons. 

Social inequalities mean that women, working-class people and certain minority ethnic groups are persistently under-represented in science.  Research has shown that young people’s perceptions of science are often formed before the age of 11 and many primary children already think that “science is not for me”. 

In many schools, these children also struggle to achieve their potential in the classroom setting.  The PSCTA is about developing teaching practice to better support all children to engage with science, particularly those who find it harder to do so.

It encourages children to recognise and celebrate their own science skills and to identify where they are already using them in day-to-day life.  In doing so, they will develop their own agency and gain confidence in their role as scientists and critical consumers of scientific literacy.

What is involved?

Engagement with the course will involve training at least one enthusiastic teacher from your school (ideally the Science Subject Leader) and supporting them in developing their science teaching skills using the approach.

The course will include four online twilight sessions between June and October 2023.  Teachers will be encouraged to reflect on science lessons within their own classrooms and to try new approaches with their pupils.  The twilight sessions will be used to introduce aspects of the PSCTA but also to allow teachers to work together to reflect upon and develop their own lessons.  Between the sessions, teachers will be required to carry out teaching tasks which will then be discussed together at the next twilight session.  There will be two sessions in the summer term and two further sessions in the autumn term. 

Workshop

Details of sessions

1

Background to the approach: Monday June 12th, 4pm – 5.30pm, on Zoom

In this session, the idea of science capital will be introduced.  Children’s sub-conscious opinions about science and their relationship to it will be considered within the context of social justice.  Teachers will think about their own classes and learn how pre-conceptions can impact science lessons.  The science capital model will be introduced as a way to help teachers improve experiences and outcomes for those who do not see themselves as “science-y”.

2

Starting with the child: Monday July 10th, 4pm – 5.30pm, on Zoom

In sessions 2, 3 and 4, teachers will learn how to improve their existing science lessons by considering the “foundations” of the PSCTA model, which aim to broaden what and who counts in science.  In this workshop, we will consider ways in which planning can be improved by “starting with the child”, which means planning from the pupils’ perspectives, through consideration of their needs and interests.

3

Fostering inclusive teaching and learning and supporting student voice and agency: TBA, September 2023

In the third session, we will address how the examples we use in the classroom often only reflect the experiences of certain groups of children, leaving others feeling excluded.  We will focus on how teachers can use the experiences and representations that all children bring with them to improve equity in science lessons.

We will also consider how we can encourage students to have a voice in the way lessons are designed and taught in order to give them greater agency about their relationships with science.

4

Introduction to the pillars: TBA, October 2023

We will complete our picture of the PSCTA by learning about the “pillars” of the model: personalising and localising lessons; eliciting, valuing and linking experiences and building science capital.

Teachers will share and celebrate their experiences of using the PSCTA in their own classrooms.  We will consider the difficulties of the approach and how it could be shared across the whole school.

The course leader is Dr Katharine Pemberton, who was part of the pilot scheme for the Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach with University College London and Kings College and is an accredited trainer for this programme.  She is the South West Area Mentor for the Primary Science Teaching Trust. 

Katharine teaches at Modbury Primary School and is science lead for the South Hams Federation of primary schools in Devon.  She is a Hub Leader for the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) and is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Education Awards Committee.  She has delivered science CPD to teachers and trainee teachers and is passionate about the promotion of inclusive, engaging science in primary schools.