Teach-Primary-Issue-19.4

Sarah Earle is professor of primary science education at Bath Spa University. Previously a primary school teacher, she now leads national research projects such as Focus4TAPS and the Nuffield practical work project. the word vibrations accurately. Each enquiry takes place within a conceptual context, meaning that sometimes (e.g. when drawing conclusions) you can make judgements about both working scientifically and the science topic content. At other times, the focus will be on teaching and assessing a particular ‘working scientifically’ skill. Assessment is part of teaching and learning, not a separate bolt-on. Effective evaluation If you’re wondering if your assessment is working, remember these top tips: This is permission not to write everything down. No full write-ups please – that’s a handwriting lesson. Pick a focus for an enquiry lesson (e.g. plan, do or review); that is what you are going to be paying attention to. Don’t worry about anything else for now. Use what you see and hear to tweak your next question or instruction – there’s no need to wait to impact the learning (it is not a test, it is teaching). Consider what the children were able to do in the lesson, and use this knowledge to make a judgement about their learning at that specific point and to help decide what to do next time. Different foci across the year build up into a picture of how the class are developing their working scientifically skills – you don’t have to do it all at once. Breaking up your assessments will allow you to focus more clearly. Responsive and adaptive teaching will make the most difference to children’s learning. This is where you will have the impact, so put your energy into the formative use of assessment. What we are looking for is to see whether the children have been able to do the thing that we were focusing on, and if not, then to do something about it. For example, if they are drawing how shadows are made and have no light source, or they have mixed up the words for reflections and shadows , then we need to do some more exploring and talking before moving on to measuring shadows. We can tweak the next lesson or the next question we ask them, so that we can address the gaps that we find. Sharing is caring Building a shared vision of progression in primary science is not something that we do alone. Talking to other teachers in your school, sharing what the children are doing in your lessons and seeing what has been done in other classes are all great for professional development. As well as the TAPS examples, the Pan-London Assessment Network (PLAN) also has a wide range of pupil work examples freely available on their website to support discussions with colleagues (planassessment.com ) . The busyness of a primary science enquiry lesson is a good sign that pupils are exploring, discussing and investigating. Being clear about the focus for your lesson, and sharing this with the children, makes it more manageable and productive, as there is a shared focus on the science learning, making it easier for you – and the children – to see if they’ve grasped it. TP @PriSciEarle.bsky.social www.teachwire.net | 47 AS S E S SMENT S P E C I A L