Asking Year 5 pupils ‘big questions’, such as how do we know the earth is a sphere or the person next to us is alive, can boost their knowledge and understanding of science. This is according to the results of a new evaluation report of Thinking, Doing, Talking Science published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) today.
Pupils participating in the trial saw their science scores increase by three additional months and the positive effects of the programme look to be particularly pronounced for disadvantaged students. Attitudes towards science improved too with half of pupils reporting they found science lessons interesting, compared with 37% of pupils who were not involved in the intervention.