Welcome

Welcome to the Thinking, Doing, Talking Science project. We are delighted that you are joining us for what we trust you will find an exciting and rewarding experience.

Thinking, Doing, Talking Science focuses on the development of cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive primary science lessons. Teachers enable their pupils to think and talk about scientific concepts through dedicated discussion times, they provide pupils with a wide range of opportunities for creative investigations and problem solving and they focus the pupils’ recording so that there is always time for practical science.

This website is for the teachers taking part in the project 2016-18 to access the resources used during their training, so it is password protected. If you would like more information about the project, please contact us.

The Oxford team

Bridget Holligan at Science Oxford and Helen Wilson at Oxford Brookes University are the developers of the Thinking, Doing, Talking Science (TDTS) project. More recently, Catherine Aldridge at Catalyst Learning and Communication Ltd. has joined the Oxford team as the central project manager.

The project evolution

TDTS is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and was first developed and evaluated during 2013-15 with 42 Oxfordshire primary schools in what is called an efficacy trial. The EEF invests in evidence-based projects that focus on tackling the attainment gap. The TDTS efficacy trial was evaluated by the Institute for Effective Education at the University of York.

The results for this trial showed that overall, the Year 5 pupils in schools using the TDTS approach made approximately three additional months’ progress in science. The programme had a particularly positive effect on girls and on pupils with lower prior attainment (4 months’ progress) and there were indications that the approach had most impact on pupils eligible for free school meals (5 months’ progress). As a result of this success and to research this further, the EEF have funded the effectiveness trial - of which you are a part.

The project ethos

Our aim is for you to enjoy the training thoroughly and to see the immediate value for your pupils. Our intention is to help you to build on your existing good practice. We will provide you with a repertoire of evidence-based strategies and you can choose and adapt them in ways that best suit your class. We understand how hard teachers work and we do not intend to add to that workload. We set out to build a team ethos - the trainers and the teachers learning from each other. You are the classroom experts and we value that.

There is a clear framework that ties together the project strategies and this is embedded in educational theory. Our ideas are not all new but pull together a range of good practice.

The project design

TDTS is a four-day primary science teacher training programme. It is developed primarily for teachers of Year 5 pupils, but the project strategies have been shown to be suitable across the whole primary age range. We have deliberately invited at least two teachers from each school because we know the value of having a fellow colleague with whom to share and develop ideas. You may not be a Year 5 teacher, but you will find that you can equally well apply the project strategies to whatever age pupils you teach.

The training is interactive, practical and enjoyable and provides strategies and activity ideas that can translate immediately into classroom practice without the need for extra expense and excessive planning. The four training days are spread out across a school year and the training is delivered locally by primary science experts.

As a research project, TDTS is being run as a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT). The evaluators are the American Institutes for Research (AIR), together with the British-based social science research group, NatCen. In order to fully research the impact of TDTS on pupils’ learning, AIR have randomly assigned the participating schools in each English region to either the ‘intervention group’ or the ‘control group’. The intervention group in each region receives the training during the 2016-17 academic year and the control group in each region receives the training during the 2017-18 academic year.

The team of tutors and the regions

The project involves 205 primary schools across seven regions of England. The regions and the trainers are as follow:

Region	Trainers
Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire	Bath Spa University Sarah Earle and Allie Beaumont
Dorset	Early Years Science Caroline Galpin and Stuart Twiss
Lancashire	Science Made Simple David Price and Ruth Perkins
Lincolnshire	Centre for Industry Education Collaboration Joy Parvin and Jane Winter
London	UCL Institute of Education Jillian Trevethan and Esme Glauert
Southampton, Hampshire	University of Southampton Julie Reynolds and Caroline Whittaker
Teesside	Centre for Industry Education Collaboration Nicky Waller and Jenny Harvey

The format of each day

The project title, Thinking, Doing, Talking Science, was chosen because we believe in ‘doing what it says on the tin’! Hence each day of the training will involve you in just that: thinking, doing and talking science. You will be asked to try out some of the project strategies with your class and then be ready to share your experiences and good practice at the following training day. In this way, there are many opportunities for mutual learning and the sharing of good ideas.

The evaluation

A randomised controlled trial is considered to be a gold standard for evaluating an intervention by making a fair comparison. Hence all participating schools (intervention and control) have agreed to facilitate the administration of a science test and the completion of attitude questionnaires by all their Year 5 pupils in June 2017. These tests will not require any preparation at all and will be administered by NatCen. In advance of the testing, schools will take part in a short telephone call to arrange a date and a time for it to take place. Testing sessions will be arranged to fit around school timetables. The EEF is highly respected and schools can be assured that all data are kept securely and anonymity is guaranteed.

"I've absolutely loved this project and have learnt so much. I have never enjoyed teaching science in the past and have always given it to my job share partner but now I am well away! My class said we aren't calling it a 'science lesson' anymore but 'science extravaganza afternoon.' I tell them when I am off on the TDTS science course and they literally bombard me on the playground the next day to find out what plans I have next! Great!"
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"I am convinced that the project has improved my teaching and I regularly use the ideas put forward in the project. I am also rolling these out across the school so that we all try to go for higher order learning."
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"I have introduced termly open-ended science investigations to the school. All years 1-6 take the same statement and then adapt it. It worked so well and all children enjoyed the free thinking and purely investigative nature of it. It was also well received by the staff - I felt how they were- that wasn't so scary- after just one try at handing the activity to the children to lead. Without this training I would not have implemented this into our school and yet initial evidence shows the quality in thinking it encourages within the children."
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"I think I've become more enthusiastic about teaching science, as I've seen the children become more engaged and consequently I feel more able to facilitate the learning and less involved in crowd control!"
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"This has been a great opportunity to develop different techniques and methods to be used not only during science lessons, but across the curriculum. I have thoroughly enjoyed implementing these techniques, and feel confident that my class have enjoyed learning through them and have developed new skills."
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"This project has made me use higher order thinking skills. Planning now allows the children to take ownership of their investigations. The discussions that take place are deeper, with children offering ideas and sharing thoughts and reasoning behind their ideas. "I think this because ..."
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"I am loving the course and the children are pleased when I attend!...as they know I will return with "some new experiments" to share with them."
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"It has been the best CPD and I have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. You all worked so hard to share your enthusiasm and creative ideas with us. MANY, MANY THANKS!"
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"The training has given me a range of new strategies to engage children more effectively in science generally, plus lots of well exemplified practical lessons linked to specific areas of the science curriculum which I have been able to use and which my pupils have greatly enjoyed. The depth of thinking and doing at the sessions and support with resources has been brilliant!"
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"It's been thought provoking, inspiring, challenging and a great deal of fun! I now enjoy teaching science more than anything else - Thank you!"
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"The children themselves decided one day that 'science' isn't good enough to put up on our menu for the day. They've now called it the 'science extravaganza'. If given the choice between science or football they'll choose science every time which is really something considering the nature of my class. They've even got parent involved such as electrician coming into our lesson on circuits."
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"It has just been a truly amazing project. Thanks so much to all concerned. I've been teaching 15 years and have never felt so inspired and motivated to get up and go to work in the morning."
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"The Practical Prompts have been a real hit with the class and have sparked a fascinating range of discussions. The project has confirmed for me that I have been approaching the teaching of Science in the right way and has also given me a whole range of additional material to support my Science teaching."
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"They find science a lot more fun, it's far more interactive, conversational and they say it's fun!"
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"The children have a 'buzz' about science - very confident to express opinions, speculate and give justifications as to why they think as they do."
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"The less able children are better engaged with their science learning and able to explore concepts practically."
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"The pupils have more enthusiasm, deeper understanding and higher order thinking."
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"Using Bright Ideas and Practical Prompts has engaged their imaginations and they often make links to work covered in other topics. Many of my Year 5 say that they love science and parents have been commenting on how much their children talk about what is being covered."
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"The children are more confident in talking about scientific ideas and they share more without worrying that they might be wrong. They love the practical sessions and the responsibility of planning it."
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"More focus on investigations rather than written recording. Using Practical Prompts for Thinking as ways into some topics."
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"I have included discussion times, using Odd One Out, PMI or Big Questions to most of my science lessons. Have made sure we do one or more full investigations within every science topic. A lot of exploration - minimal recording. Using partner work and group work for most sessions.
Using more bright ideas in the classroom. More skills focus in learning objective, rather than topic focus. Increased focus on practical science. Trying to maximise learning from each lesson - questioning and higher order thinking."
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"My science planning and teaching has been led by the children's interests and ideas more. If they have asked questions/shown enthusiasm about a certain area we have followed this through and created our own learning objectives instead of moving through a pre written unit of work."
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