Science education is a compulsory requirement of the New Zealand Curriculum at primary level. Primary students benefit from science education which can help them explore their current understandings of the physical and natural world, and construct scientific understandings and capabilities that can facilitate their thinking and acting in their future work and everyday lives. This paper prepares new teachers to engage in science education with their students.

This paper builds teacher knowledge and pedagogical practice to support primary students to explore their views of the world through science, to construct and communicate scientific understandings and to develop science capabilities that will help them contribute to the well­being of society and the environment.

This paper involves one 1.5 - 2 hour lecture and one 2 hour workshop scheduled for each week of the 12 week trimester (see the accompanying timetable). The lectures will explore fundamental ideas in science and science teaching and learning, and the workshops will support these with experiences to deepen learning.

Please note that TEACH211 involves 40-­48 hours of class time/workshops, which represents one-­third of the time students are expected to work on the course. It is expected that students will spend the rest of their course time preparing for classes/workshops, reading and responding to science education literature, planning, reflecting, and preparing assignments.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.

Selected chapters from the followings books:

Dawson, & Venville, G. (2021). The Art of Teaching Primary School Science. (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.

Harlen, W (2018) The Teaching of Primary Science (7th edition). David Fulton.

Skamp. K. (2012). Teaching Primary Science Constructively (4th edition). Cengage Learning

There will also be readings published in the Reading List which will be available on the Moodle site.