How can science and technology activities be made engaging and relevant in primary education?

How can science and technology activities be made engaging and relevant in primary education?

Science is taught across the country throughout primary and secondary classrooms, and is thought by many to be an important part of the curriculum. “In one form or another, it is continually changing and improving the way that we live our lives. It makes and sustains our modern society and will help us to understand and solve the big questions that our world faces (Welsh Government, 2012). The Welsh Government are indicating how they believe science and technology will be extremely influential to the progression in society in the future, and how detrimental it is to be taught thought engaging lessons and activities throughout the primary classroom. Furthermore, the Science Museum Group suggest that science is not just a subject, science and technology are the future as they are continuing to advance society and the way in which we live our lives (Science Museum Group, 2017).

The Welsh Government are extremely focused in raising standards in the science and technology area within school as they highlight, there is a drive to improve standards in science and technology within schools, and they will achieve this by investing more than £4 million throughout a new science and technology network, which will aim to meet the Welsh Governments national mission to raise standards throughout schools through the education reform (Welsh Government, 2017).                                                             Furthermore, Kirsty Williams the education secretary suggests that the new science and technology network will play a huge role in raising national standards within the education system, so there are close links with Donaldson’s new curriculum which suggests that there will be six areas of learning and experience and one focusing on science and technology, with a cross curricular approach occurring (Welsh Government, 2018). With so much emphasis on science and technology being implemented throughout the new curriculum it can suggest that there are issues occurring currently with science and technology, BBC news states that there is a critical shortage of woman in science jobs, and this will impact future economic growth according the Welsh Government. With this in mind, STEM also known as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths has been introduced in many schools across Wales in order to inspire students about the subject and attempt to solve these shortages within the sector.

STEM is important for a thriving economy and also a technological advance society, therefore, the Welsh Government are suggesting that it should be a part of the new curriculum in a new reformed method as it will aim to integrate all of the STEM subjects and portray an authentic approach to the classroom. Carwyn Jones, also backs this up by stating that science, technology, engineering and maths are the bedrock for innovation in business and industry, therefore there will be a push forwards links between these and education, helping young people get a real grasp of the real world (Carwyn Jones, First Minister, March 2012). With having said this, science and technology activities have to be engaging within schools in order to inspire the future generations. Donaldson suggests that in the ‘Successful Futures’ students will “learn to generate and test ideas, gather evidence and make observations whilst having the opportunity to carry out practical investigations, and communicate with others. They will also learn through computer science, the horizons of what is possible can be extended beyond our current imagination” (Donaldson, 2015. P.50). It is important to highlight that pupils will have engaging and relevant activities on offer within the classroom which will aim to inspire and spark their imaginations surrounding the subjects.

Furthermore, in order to make science and technology more engaging within the class room STEM Learning organised a British Science week in order to celebrate all things science, technology, engineering and maths. This involved thousands of activities catering for all ages which links in with STEM, this is a fantastic way to engage students and make activities engaging in the classroom, and also has close links with authentic learning. The British Science Association state that the week is to “encourage young people to think about everyday discoveries and they affect their lives by exploring science in the world all around us” (British Science Association, 2018). This is a great way of capturing the imagination and making activities relevant and engaging.

In addition, another fantastic way of engaging students and making science and technology relevant is Techniquest, and their mission is to embed science in Welsh culture though interactive engagement (Techniquest,2018). Techinquest provides a unique experience which supports both teachers and inspiring pupils in STEM subjects, they offer a broad and dynamic outreach programme which can also be provided in the classroom. Techniquest offers more than 120 hands on exhibits which are ideal for a child-centred learning and investigation approach, furthermore all programmes are linked to the curriculum for Wales and teachers can receive resources which can be taken back to the classroom which can help extend learning once back in the class. This is an excellent way of engaging students and making it relevant to primary education as the activities which occur within the setting are real life and link in with the curriculum. In addition, the activities also have close connections with the four purposes of the new curriculum with the main links being ambitious, capable learners. With the hands- on experience pupils can certainly become ambitious, capable learns as they will be observing and using critical thinking skills, and also creatively use technology. Furthermore, Freire suggests that ‘learning is a joyful experience’, therefore with this hands-on experience it can be suggested to make learning more enjoyable and a joyful experience (Freire, 1998, p.125). Furthermore, it also has connections to another one of the aims which is individuals being healthy and confident, and this will occur by learning to make use of scientific data to assess risk and take informed decisions using digital technologies safely and having respect for others.

In addition, other activities occur within the classroom such as designing and creating lego cars, coding with spheres and also virtual reality headsets. These activities certainly help to engage students in an exciting new approach. Nant Y Parc primary have used virtual reality within their classrooms in order to create real life experiences, where the students can immerse themselves in reality or sci-fi. They use VR for a number of reasons such as, to explore, learn, motivate and also create inspiring educational experiences for all pupils, and a number of apps are used in order to achieve this including google expeditions and discovery VR. By using VR it encourages students to develop key skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, motivation, child-led learning and even has links with communication, this is important and beneficial to students as this links in with Donaldson’s four aims of the curriculum and also has a cross curricular approach to it. “The more virtual, the more real” (Woolgar, 2002), this also suggests that the use of Virtual Reality is beneficial as it is authentic therefore children will experience’s will broaden. However, Levidow argues that, “the technology can be designed to discipline, deskill and/or displace teachers’ labour” (Levidow, 2005, p.158). This is an interesting contrast as it is important to clarify that technology should not be used to replace certain aspects such as writing as there is beneficial purpose to the student or even teacher, therefore it should be used in a beneficial way in order to progress education in a positive manner.

Overall, there are many ways that technology and science activities can be engaging in the primary classroom. There are many strategies implemented in order to increase standards also, such as STEM week and also organisations such as Techniquest. These activities can help promote STEM subjects and encourage students to want to work in that particular industry.

Reference List

BBC (2016) 'Critical shortage' of women in science jobs, reports find. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35747420 (Accessed: 8th March 2016).

 British Science Association (2018) British Science Week. Available at:https://www.britishscienceweek.org (Accessed: March 2018).

DCELLS (2012). Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM): Guidance for schools and colleges in Wales. Crown Publishing: London

Donaldson, G (2015) Successful Futures. Available at: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/asset/A788604C-3046-4005-A1EA0EAFF023E0DD/ (Accessed: February 2015).

Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Rowman & Littlefield: New York.

Levidow, L. (2005). Neoliberal agendas for higher education.Neoliberalism: A critical reader, 156-163. MI: Pluto Press.

Science Museum Group (2017). Why is STEM important for Society?, Available at: https://transformingpractice.sciencemuseum.org.uk/why-is-stem-important-for-society/ (Accessed: March 2018).

Techniquest (2018) The Story of Techniquest. Available at:https://www.techniquest.org/about-us/the-story-of-techniquest/ (Accessed: March 2018).

Welsh Government (2017) Drive to improve science and technology in schools begins. Available at: http://gov.wales/newsroom/educationandskills/2017/drive-to-improve-science-and-technology-in-schools-begins/?lang=en (Accessed: 7th December 2017).

Welsh Government (2012) Learning in Digital Wales. Available at: http://gov.wales/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/previous-administration/2012/learningindigitalwales/?lang=en (Accessed: 21st June 2012).

Welsh Gov (2018) New school curriculum. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculuminwales/curriculum-for-wales-curriculum-for-life/?lang=en (Accessed: 31st January 2018)

Woolgar, S. (2002). Five rules of virtuality. In S. Woolgar (Ed.), Virtual society? Technology, cyberbole, reality (pp.1-22). Oxford: Oxford University Press.