Technical Drawing Courses in Secondary Schools: an HMI Discussion Paper
This paper gives an account of a survey, carried out by HM Inspectors in 1980-81, looking at technical drawing and other drawing office based courses in secondary schools. They also visited 11 industrial companies and 15 institutions of further and higher education to discuss their expectations of students in terms of technical drawing…
APU Science Report for Teachers 4: Science in Schools, Age 13
The APU report number 4 for teachers presents, in concise form, some of the data and findings of the APU surveys of students aged 13. It includes an outline of the assessment framework, some of the questions which were written to match it, a description of how well, and how differently, students responded to them and suggestions…
Aspects of Primary Education: the Teaching and Learning of Science
Published in 1989 by Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI), this report looks at the changes in science teaching from the mid-seventies to the late-eighties and discusses how further improvements could be achieved. It is based on observations made by HMI during the inspection of 300 primary schools in England, and from evidence about…
Technology and School Science: an HMI Enquiry
This enquiry into technology and school science was conducted by HMI. The report was published in 1985. The enquiry was concerned not only with the specific technology courses offered by science departments but also sought to obtain details of any attempts being made to develop technology across the curriculum, within the general…
The Curriculum From 5 to 16: Curriculum Matters 2
This resource, published in 1985, was the second in a series of discussion documents published by HM Inspectorate intended to stimulate debate about the National Curriculum in primary and secondary schools. It suggests an approach to teaching a broad, balanced, inclusive curriculum for all students. The focus of this report is…
Design Skills for Work
Design Skills for Work was a two-part report written by the Technology Education Research Unit for the Design Council in 1988. Part one: An exploration of transferability This report looks at how design teaching at different school levels can help to develop transferable skills, strong and weak forms of transferability, teaching…
Report by HM Inspectors on British School Technology 1986
This report by HM Inspectors begins by outlining the history of the British School Technology (BST), its terms of reference and the extent of the operation in terms of the numbers of teachers trained. Details are given of inspections carried out and a more detailed description of the work carried out by BST at Trent Polytechnic including…
Design and Technological Activity: a Framework for Assessment
This report, from the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU), follows a series of other reports establishing the nature of design and technology. This report was again concerned initially to clarify the parameters of design and technological activity and the features of performance that are crucial. Subsequently, the work of the team…
In Place of Confusion: Technology and Science in the School Curriculum
This report, published by the Nuffield-Chelsea Curriculum Trust, was written in the wake of significant reorganisation of the school system with the development of comprehensive schools and the comprehensive curriculum. The first chapter looks at the changes made to Craft, Design and Technology in schools and considers what further…
Teaching Language and Study Skills in Secondary Science
This book was published by Heinemann in 1985 to give science teachers advice on how they can educate their students to become autonomous learners by developing their language and study skills. Each chapter in the book has a consistent format: an ‘introduction’ briefly discussing the main points, followed by a systematic…
The Cockcroft Foundation List: APU Results
The report considers how students aged 15 fared in the APU tests on mathematics topics found in the ‘foundation list’ from the Cockcroft report. The ‘foundation list’ consists of basic mathematical skills such as number, money, percentages, time, use of a calculator, ratio and proportion. The full list…
APU Practical Mathematics
This report describes the performance of students aged 11 and 15 on a range of practical tasks and came in response to Cockcroft’s report and the GCSE National Curriculum criteria both of which advocated practical work in mathematics. The booklet aims to answer the questions: • What is practical work in mathematics…
APU Mathematics Monitoring Phase 2
A report of the work of the APU between 1984 and 1988 and the results of the 1987 survey in which groups of 11 and 15 year olds were tested on a variety of aspects of their mathematical development. The report begins with an overview of the work carried out in phase one of the project followed by an overview of the work carried…
Understanding Design and Technology 1982
Produced in 1982, this Assessment of Performance Unit discussion document was based on a report prepared by a special working group of the APU which was submitted to the Unit in the Summer of 1980. The group was asked: • to identify those aspects of an understanding of both design and technology most likely to be reflected…
The Continuing Mathematics Project: a Case Study
This report gives a fairly full account of the origins and life of the Continuing Mathematics Project (CMP), together with details of what materials were produced and how it was developed and tested in schools. In addition to a discussion of the way in which a variety of institutions used the materials, four tutors contributed a…
Communicating Mathematical Ideas
This report from the Assessment Performance Unit came about as an increasing interest was being focused on how students communicate mathematical ideas and what factors facilitate or hinder their thinking and performance. This booklet features a selection of discussions and examples that illustrate aspects of how students aged 11-15…
Children Learning Mathematics - a Teacher's Guide to Recent Research
The Low Attainers in Mathematics Project has two aims; to bring to the notice of teachers the current knowledge about learning processes in mathematics which resulted in the writing of this book and to provide information to teachers and advisers about the ways in which primary, middle and secondary schools deal with students who…
Better Mathematics
The Low Attainers in Mathematics Project (LAMP) was one of three post-Cockcroft, Department of Education and Science (DES) studies related to low attainers. The Project was based at the Mathematics Centre, West Sussex Institute of Higher Education (WSIHE). The Project aimed to develop and encourage 'good practice' in…
Towards a Science of Science Teaching
Towards a Science of Science Teaching was first published in 1981. It described the findings of the Concepts in Secondary Mathematics and Science Project and explained the methods and results of that research programme. It gave an account of testing instruments (Science Reasoning Tasks) which teachers could use to assess the cognitive…
Building Bridges: Towards Continuity and Progression
This IPSE publication from the Association for Science Education (ASE) describes attempts within the Education Support Grant (ESG) project to establish liaison between and within schools. Most attempts were concerned with the primary-secondary interface. In addition to commenting on these, this publication also reports developments…
The School in Focus
This IPSE publication from the Association for Science Education (ASE) presents findings from the evaluation of the Local Education Authorities (LEAs) taking part in the Government funded scheme for promoting science in primary schools, 1985-8. The different LEAs adopted a wide variety of strategies for developing their primary schools'…
IPSE: Report
The IPSE Report from the Association for Science Education (ASE) describes the national evaluation of the Education Support Grants (ESG) primary science schemes, 1985-88. Chapter One describes the process of the evaluation and data from the evaluation are presented in Appendices 1-8. In Chapter Two, the different ESG projects are…
APU Science Report for Teachers 11: The Language of Science
This APU report for teachers differs from other reports in being jointly authored by members of the APU language and science teams. It reports the joint study of students’ written and spoken language in relation to science subject matter. This study addressed the question of whether competence in one domain might be only indirectly…
APU Science Report for Teachers 10: Metals at Age 15
This APU report for teachers focuses on the performance of students aged 15 in a range of test questions concerning metals. This subject was chosen since metals are the commonest examples of elements which students meet in their everyday lives. Questions reported were drawn from the pool used in APU surveys, supplemented by others…
APU Science Report for Teachers 7: Electricity at Age 15
This APU report for teachers focuses on the performance of students aged 15 in a range of test questions concerning electricity. It presents the findings in a sequence in which it suggests that different activities are generally encountered by students. An experimentally-based course would, in the first three years of secondary science,…
APU Science Report for Teachers 5: Science at Age 15
The APU report for teachers presents, in concise form, some of the data and findings of the APU surveys of students aged 15. After outlining the assessment framework (see also Report 2: Science assessment framework, age 13 and 15), the report gives information about the science subjects studies by students in England, Wales and Northern…
APU Science Report for Teachers 3: Science at Age 13
The APU report for teachers presents, in concise form, some of the data and findings of the APU surveys of students aged 13. It includes an outline of the assessment framework, some of the questions which were written to match it, a description of how well, and how differently, pupils responded to them and suggestions about how the…
APU Science Report for Teachers 8: Planning Scientific Investigations at Age 11
This APU report for teachers focuses on students’ planning of investigations. Although considered important in several respects, Report for Teachers 1 found that little emphasis was given in primary schools to students designing investigations or even planning parts of investigations such as identifying variables and making…
APU Science Report for Teachers 6: Practical Testing at Ages 11, 13, and 15
This APU report for teachers describes the aspect of the science surveys where the science project broke new ground. The reason for including practical tasks was the emphasis placed on practical work in science, requiring a range of skills. It was considered that science performance could not be adequately assessed on paper alone.…
APU Science Report for Teachers 1: Science at Age 11
This APU report for teachers presents a summary of the main findings likely to be of most interest to teachers from the first two surveys of students at age 11, conducted in 1980 and 1981. It also offers some conclusions about what students at this age were generally able to do, or not, with implications for practice. The report…
Technology in Schools: Developments in Craft, Design and Technology Departments 1982
Produced in 1982, this Department for Education and Science and HM Inspectorate booklet describes some aspects of technological studies in 90 schools in England and Wales. It gives information about the structure, content and organisation of courses in technology, and about some other ways in which schools attempted to introduce…
National Curriculum Design and Technology Working Group: Interim Report 1988
A report from the National Curriculum Council (NCC). An initial consultation report in November 1988 proposed an ambitious, broad, integrated approach to a range of design and technology-related subjects explored through a wide variety of contexts. It recognised the complex relationship between the knowledge and skills and the practical…