INTRODUCTION

At first glance, science teaching and creativity might seem to be strange bedfellows. For many of us, our experiences of being taught science at school – and for many of the new teachers I work with it is usually secondary science lessons that stick in the mind – were anything but creative. We think back on experiments to ‘prove’ scientific truths; of information to be memorised; of mathematical algorithms to be replicated. Even in the upper years of primary education in England, the pressures of national testing in science up to 2009 have tended to squeeze creativity out of teachers’ practice and children’s learning, in favour of revision. Yet we also know that science education need not be like this. The growth and relative success of primary-led approaches to science teaching and learning over the past 20 years – with their emphasis upon curiosity, observation, exploration and enquiry – have inspired many children and have even begun to influence the secondary curriculum. It is my argument in this book that we can no longer leave children’s creative development to the arts; science needs to have just as strong an emphasis in the creative curricula being adopted by so many primary schools. In Chapter 1 I examine the threats to primary science education reflected in continuous curriculum change over recent years and resulting in concerns over international comparisons of scientific attainment. This chapter reviews the rationales for including science in children’s education and develops the case for science to be considered as a creative component of the primary curriculum. In Chapter 2 I consider what it might look like to be a creative teacher of science in the primary school, and some of the reasons why it can be difficult to achieve this ideal without support. Chapter 2 also takes a closer look at children’s creative learning and development, exploring some of the models that have been developed over the past decade and how science fits in. Chapter 3 turns our attention to the early years of education, drawing out the scientific and technological dimensions of children’s play and how an exploration-based curriculum can develop specific creative dispositions. I consider the role of the adult in supporting children’s scientific thinking and creativity; how practitioners might establish the social and physical environment necessary

for creative science to flourish; and how adopting a narrative approach involving the use of picture books can help children to explore phenomena around them in a new way. Chapter 4 again turns the attention back to the teacher, in thinking about how we contextualise science for children through relevant and stimulating starting points. While achieving the ‘wow factor’ in our teaching can engage children’s enthusiasm at the beginning of a topic, we need to remember that our role is not to produce conjuring tricks but to bring about creative learning, so it is worth thinking about how we encourage children to explore further. Cross-curricular links can also enhance the creative potential of science lessons and help children to make the unexpected connections which are a hallmark of creative thinking. In Chapter 5, Ian Milne outlines the process of ‘creative enquiry’ which he has been developing with primary schools in New Zealand. Starting with children’s own interests and concerns, this process aims to build on their sense of wonder at the world around them, developing different kinds of ‘wondering’ into scientific enquiry which is spontaneous and less rule-bound than that prescribed by national curricula. The theme of scientific enquiry is further developed in Chapter 6, where I bring the idea of social creativity – that which emerges in the space between children’s minds as they collaborate on a shared task – to the processes of investigation in science. It is possible to exercise the individual process skills of enquiry more creatively without losing sight of the whole, as is demonstrated by case studies of children using creative thinking to design experiments, solve problems and present their findings in new ways. Using language to communicate ideas is at the heart of science education, so Chapter 7 considers how children might use different literary genres to break out of the formal, impersonal ways that we often assume are needed to report scientific findings. Chapter 7 also emphasises the central role of questions in science; I argue that asking questions is more important to creative scientific learning than answering them. Yet as teachers, the kinds of questions we ask can make the difference between a routine or a thoughtful response, so it is worth examining our own questioning skills to bring out children’s creativity. Chapter 8 turns our attention to the vast potential of new technologies to be used by children and teachers as creative learning tools in science. Through case studies of innovative projects, I explore some of the affordances of e-learning for promoting creative thinking while removing some of the more routine elements of scientific enquiry. Another resource with enormous potential for enhancing children’s firsthand experience of scientific phenomena is the outdoor environment, which many primary schools are rediscovering. Chapter 9 considers how a ‘welly walk’, working in the school garden or building dens in the wood might help children understand more about the interdependence of the living world, while developing their creativity in shaping natural materials. Finally, in Chapter 10 I challenge the reader to think about their role as a creative teacher of primary science more broadly. What are the wider support mechanisms that can feed teachers’ own creativity and help them to lead curriculum change across the school? How might we engage in the big scientific debates that will affect the future of the planet, given that we carry the awesome responsibility of educating the generations whose creativity could make the difference between sustainability and destruction? I hope this book will motivate and inspire you to bring a greater element of creativity to your classroom practice while recognising and supporting the creative thinking of the young scientists with whom you work.