Thinking, Doing, Talking Science (TDTScience) is a continuing professional development (CPD) programme (and pedagogical teaching approach), designed to increase primary aged pupils’ positive attitudes towards science and improve overall science attainment by providing more opportunities for the development of higher order thinking skills through creative practical science and quality discussion.
Teachers enable all pupils to think and talk about science concepts through dedicated discussion slots (‘Bright Ideas Time’), provide a wide range of opportunities for creative investigations and problem-solving for knowledge and skills progression, and utilise focused recording to prioritise time for practical science.
To date, the EEF have funded three randomised controlled trialsAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes. related to Thinking, Doing, Talking Science, which was developed by Science Oxford and Oxford Brookes University in 2013.
Firstly, in 2013 – 14 an efficacy trial was conducted in 41 primary schools with Year five pupils, to ascertain whether the TDTScience approach, with teachers trained by the creators Helen Wilson and Bridget Holligan, was effective. It showed positive impact of three months’ additional progress in science attainment and a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes towards science.
Secondly, a larger scale effectiveness trial was undertaken in 2016 – 17 to see if the model could be replicated at scale, with other trainers delivering CPD sessions for teachers via a train-the-trainer model. This involved 205 schools and Year five pupils. This effectiveness trial showed no impact overall for science attainment and a positive impact on pupils’ interest in science and science self-efficacy.
Lastly, EEF funded a further effectiveness trial. This incorporated a pilot which focused on the train-the-trainer approach to understand if the model could be improved to ensure better fidelity and therefore maintain the effects seen during the efficacy trial, when the intervention was scaled up. In this re-effectiveness trial, the trainers completed a three-stage training programme.
This latest re-effectiveness trial conducted in 2021 – 24 found no evidence of impact on Year five pupils’ attainment in science or for those in receipt of FSM, and this result has a high security rating. However, pupils’ attitudes to science in TDTScience schools were positively impacted, compared to pupils in other schools. This suggests that TDTScience approaches and pedagogy can significantly improve pupils’ attitudes to science, without any negative impact on attainment. Teachers were overwhelmingly positive about the quality of the training, reporting improvements in confidence, lesson planning, and enjoyment of teaching science. Changes to their teaching practice in accordance with the TDTScience ethos were identified through lesson observations, surveys and noted by pupils themselves.
This evaluation will continue to explore the impact of TDTScience in a further addendum, reporting evidence of impact once teachers have had time to embed TDTScience into their teaching practices for the full year, to see whether there is a ‘soak’ effect on a second cohort of Year five pupils. It will also include a longitudinal analysis following Year five pupils in into Year six, assessed using a Year six Science Assessment, and KS2 reading and maths scores.
This project is co-funded by the EEF and the Wellcome Trust as part of our Improving Science Education grant partnership programme.