TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK. pound;40 PICTURE PACK. pound;25. ASSESSMENT BOOK. pound;1.25 (pack of five pound;5). Five copies of each Assessment Book and Teacher’s Notes. pound;20.

Scottish teachers will welcome this package, which steers them through the complexities of the science component of the 5-14 environmental studies national guidelines. This pack covers the first year of Stage 1, which is the equivalent of Reception in England and Wales. Eight further packages will follow. Three workbooks, on the study units Myself, All Around Me and Where I Live, function as an informal record for assessments. Each page of the workbooks is cross-referenced to the teacher’s resource book and relevant key features and guidelines.

The resource book is to be commended for its brevity. It contains photocopy masters and gives advice on teaching style and classroom organisation. It links study units, suggests activities and gives advice on differentiation and assessment.

In Scotland, there has been no national training programme for teaching primary science and this package by an experienced writing team will go some way to providing much needed support for IT teachers.

* Wilson Flood is former science adviser for Dumfries and Galloway, and is now a freelance science education consultant.