Identifying the starting point for a new topic in KS2 Science

This workshop will share practical ideas about how teachers can respond to children’s misconceptions. It will consider, using examples from classroom practice, how evidence gathered can be used to plan next steps in teaching and inform questioning and enquiry activities. The Understanding Student Ideas in Science series has had great success in the USA in terms of providing teachers with practical classroom materials to identify pupils' misconceptions and provide teachers with a basis for developing responsive teaching. This approach has been based on a wide range of work, including research by Ros Driver and curriculum materials from Stuart Naylor and Brenda Keogh as well as research into children's ideas from a wide range of authoritative research materials from across the world. This approach has now been turned into a publication 'Understanding Children's Ideas in Science' which the ASE brought out in 2022 Outcomes: a) To have a clearer understanding of how probes can be used by classroom teachers in their lessons b) To understand how to interpret the evidence yielded by probes c) To consider how subsequent lesson planning and delivery can be informed and made responsive