Primary pupils who struggle with science could get help from a superhero named Musicman or by using drama to show the difference in structures between solids, liquids and gases.
That is the message from the AstraZeneca Teaching TrustTES Primary Science awards, one of the highlights of primary day at the Association for Science Education annual conference in Reading tomorrow.
The five winners of the awards include Cara Cahill who works at Dogsthorpe junior school in Peterborough. She taught pupils about sound by getting them to choose materials for earmuffs for Musicman, a superhero who uses vibrations to fight evil.
Pupils plumped for foam after testing how well different materials blocked out the sound of an alarm.
The award winners were showed innovative teaching techniques and managed to engage pupils with scientific concepts.
Louise Culver from Loose junior school in Maidstone, Kent, (pictured right) invited nine-year-olds in her class to act out the different structures of gases, liquids and solids. The solids stuck close together while the gases floated away from each other.
The other winners of the awards which are in their 12th year, were Rosemary Woodhall of St Michael’s Church of England primary, Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire; Sheila McDougal of Doonfoot primary, Ayr, and David May, Canon Peter Hall C of E primary, Immingham, North East Lincolnshire.
Full details in TES Science, a 20-page supplement
