ABSTRACT
In the past, research into the acquisition of conceptual knowledge in science by primary school children was seldom contemplated. Educationalists were mainly concerned with the secondary age range, and when conceptual knowledge was studied by psychologists, the logical and social domains were the central focus. Recently, however, there has been a change, and it is
not hard to see why. After a decade of debate, the National Curriculum (Department of Education & Science 1989) has stipulated that “the knowledge and understanding of science” be taught from the first years of schooling. Thus, primary teachers have been charged with finding appropriate methods, and there was a widely held impression that research with the secondary age range would have little to tell them. It was known that prominent reviews like McDermott (1984) were documenting widespread failure to get conceptual knowledge across, with students often entering university with only the vaguest grasp of fundamental notions. Hence, it was felt that little could be gleaned from secondary practice apart from a need for different methods. Further research would be needed for positive suggestions, and this is what produced the momentum for the recent research.
