ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the particular problems that children encounter in adjusting to science lessons in their secondary schools. We argue that these difficulties stem largely from discontinuities between the kinds of science that children do in primary and secondary classrooms; the teaching styles adopted by primary and secondary science teachers; and the lack of useful assessment information transferred between the two. The chapter goes on to evaluate specific strategies for smoothing children’s learning trajectory in science, including ‘bridging units’ jointly planned and taught across the transfer period, involving teachers observing each other’s practice and agreeing on useful forms of assessment of children’s scientific learning that can accompany them across the divide.
