Ginn Science

The Ginn Science collection, published between 1988 and 1998 by Ginn and Company, comprises a number of different kinds of resource which provide a whole-school programme for teaching and learning primary school science. The collection was developed to meet the requirements, in the early 1990s, of the National Curriculum in England and Wales, the Northern Ireland Curriculum and the 5-14 Guidelines in Scotland. It gives most attention to the National Curriculum for England and the teachers’ resource files published after 1995 are explicitly related to the revised National Curriculum and the Scottish Guidelines for environmental studies 5-14. There are several charts in the resource files which enable cross-referencing to both curricula. Other materials – for students and assessment - were unaffected by the structural change brought about by the 1995 curriculum revision. However, the collection does not, of course, take into account the more fundamental changes to the English and Scottish curricula in the 2000s.

Ginn Science is a seven-year programme providing learning and assessment activities for students aged from 4 to 11. The resources are identified as suitable for particular ages by Year level for those England and by Primary (P) level in Scotland.

Students’ activities are organised in topic-based modules of which there are between 15 and 22 in a year. Five content strands run through the modules, developing ideas about: ourselves and healthy living; other animals and plants; materials and their uses; energy and forces; and Earth and space. Five groups of skills are also developed across the years: observing, investigating, interpreting, hypothesising and applying.

Context
Ginn Science began in 1988 at the time when teaching science in the primary school was made a statutory part of National Curriculum in England and Wales. In the early 1990s science was also required as part of the Northern Ireland Curriculum and was included in the environmental studies guidelines of the 5-14 curriculum in Scotland. Ginn Science was devised with a structure and content that would meet the requirements of these different curricula and accommodate changes in the National Curriculum which were taking place during the 1990s. Over the 10 years of its development the programme evolved but its structure was not changed fundamentally.

A key factor in good practice in primary schools, highlighted during the time of implementing new curriculum in the UK, was the existence of a scheme of work for the whole school. The Ginn Science users’ guide sets out what is involved in developing a school scheme of work in science using the Ginn materials.

Approach
Ginn Science develops ideas and skills through practical activities wherever possible. The programme provides all the written resources and guidance that teachers need to plan and implement science throughout the primary school.

• URL: http://stem.org.uk/cx342