Nuffield Primary Science

Directors
Paul Black and Wynne Harlen

SPACE research
In the late 1980s the Nuffield Foundation funded a research project run by King’s College London and Liverpool University to study children’s learning in science. This was led by Paul Black and Wynne Harlen.

The Primary Science Processes and Concept Exploration (SPACE) project was a classroom-based research project which aimed to establish the ideas that primary school children hold in particular science concept areas, and the possibility of children modifying their ideas as the result of relevant experiences.

The SPACE project was run collaboratively between the university research teams, local educational authorities and schools, with participating teachers playing an active role in the development of project materials.

From research to curriculum development
It was decided that the research results should be developed into materials for teachers and pupils. These were trialled in schools by team members and the curriculum development was carried out in the early 1990s by the Nuffield Chelsea-Curriculum Trust (NCCT).

Publications
The curriculum materials were called Nuffield Primary Science. The key publications were the Teachers’ Guides which were produced to an exceptionally high standard by the publisher.

The project was only possible because of a large advance which meant that there was a commercial imperative to produce pupil material. These were developed by NCCT with the assistance of the development team.

Impact
The Teachers’ Guides sold very well so the publisher invested in a new 1995 National Curriculum edition of the teachers’ guides. The success arose from the fact that the books were colourful and richly illustrated with children’s work showing their ideas, and they provided a research-based rationale for initial teacher training and professional development.

Sales of the pupil material were relatively disappointing, although they enjoyed a brief resurgence with the coming of the Literacy Hour in primary schools because they were ideally suited for use in the non-fiction section.

Interest in SPACE research reports and Nuffield Primary Science Teachers' guides continues. They are an important point of reference for teachers in training.

Promoting the SPACE approach

Initial and in-service training
Active dissemination of the SPACE approach was helped by the way that it was taken up by many involved in initial and in-service training as their rationale for their courses. This activity was soon co-ordinated from the Nuffield Curriculum Centre.

At least two-thirds of centres for initial teacher training in primary science were in touch with the Nuffield Curriculum Centre. Members of a UK-wide network of trainers and LEA advisers met annually for nearly ten years.

New publications
There was a developmental side to aftercare. The support and expertise of the network made it possible for the Nuffield Curriculum Centre and the publisher to produce a range of supplementary resources. Of these publications, Understanding Science Ideas proved particularly successful.

Science and literacy
A rewarding link was made with the Exeter Extending Literacy project (EXEL). Those involved in Nuffield Primary Science found the EXEL approach to scaffolding children’s learning helpful and a joint Science and Literacy book was produced.