AN AMERICAN EDUCATIONALIST (pt2)  1700w

The teaching of science in primary schools has created concerns for many years (Holroyd & Harlen,  2019) Holroyd & Harlen, 2019); Appleton & Kindt, 2019), specifically the issue of primary teacher’s content knowledge in science. Teachers need to teach science in ways that promotes and contributes to scientific literacy. Primary teachers are more likely to fear teaching science, through lack of confidence which then affects their style of teaching, (Appleton & Kindt, 2019). The knowledge and understanding required to teach science at the primary level as opposed to secondary level still calls for a well developed understanding of fundamental scientific concepts especially the physical sciences such as forces, energy and the physics of motion, (Vlaardingerbroek & Taylor, 2003). More of a concern is the lack of subject matter knowledge, content knowledge from many teachers. (Murphy & Beggs, 2001) Some findings from the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED 2019) were that: Some teachers’ understanding of particular areas of science, especially the physical sciences, is not sufficiently well developed and this gives rise to unevenness of standards, particularly in years 5 and 6 (age 10 and 11), and In the upper years of Key Stage 2 (which represents age 7-11 year old children) shortcomings in teachers’ understanding of science are evident in the incorrect use of scientific terminology and an overemphasis on the acquisition of knowledge at the expense of conceptual development.