Nuffield Primary Science

The Nuffield Primary Science materials were based on the findings of a research project called the Science Processes and Concept Exploration (SPACE). This was the first set of resources published in the UK for primary science teaching that was explicitly based on a constructivist view of learning.

The research aims
From January 1987 the SPACE research project carried out research into primary students' ideas about some science concepts. When the National Curriculum was introduced the research was extended to each of its concept areas to investigate in depth:
• what ideas students held about aspects of the world around them;
• how they came to form these ideas;
• what were the possibilities of helping students to modify their ideas, to bring them closer to the more useful, scientific ones.

The results of the SPACE research were published in 11 Research Reports between 1990 and 1998, by Liverpool University press. Some of these are available on the Nuffield Foundation website.

Research and development methods
The SPACE research and the development of teachers’ guides were carried out in classrooms with the help of teachers, so that materials relevant to everyday work could be produced. For the purposes of the research a stratified random sample of children from the classes involved was interviewed by researchers before and after classroom intervention, whilst the teachers adapted the methods used by the researchers to collect ideas less formally from all the children. The classroom materials were trialled by teachers who also added to the suggested activities.

The range of resources
The full range of resources covers teachers’ guides, student books, a background science book and a science co-ordinator’s book, covering all primary school years. There is also an in-service training package comprising four units. Thus the full set was designed to provide a complete programme for primary science which could meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. The activities were suggestions, not requirements, and the equipment needed was noted but not provided.

HEALTH and SAFETY
Any use of a resource that includes a practical activity must include a risk assessment. Please note that collections may contain ARCHIVE resources, which were developed at a much earlier date. Since that time there have been significant changes in the rules and guidance affecting laboratory practical work. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance.

• URL: http://stem.org.uk/cxg2