Dear Colleague,

Invitation to participate in the‘Thinking, Doing and Talking Science’ project 2016-18

Thinking, Doing, Talking Science (TDTS)is a 4 day primary teacher training programme developed by Science Oxford and Oxford Brookes University during 2013-15, which has been shown to significantly improve pupils’ attainment in science and their attitudes towards science, as well as increasing teachers’ confidence in the subject and their enjoyment of teaching it.

As a consequence of these positive results, the project has secured further funding from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) for it to be delivered to at least another 180 primary schools across England during 2016-18. The STEM Education Centre, London, UCL IoE, is proud to be a regional partner for the next phase of this exciting and highly prestigious primary science project and we would like to invite your school to take part.

The 4-day training programme is for all teachers of Year 5 pupils in your school and will focus on creative and challenging science lessons that enable pupils to use higher order thinking skills. A wide range of easily implementable strategies (supported by comprehensive resources) will be shared, such as ways to encourage pupils to talk about scientific concepts through dedicated discussion times, problem solving and investigation activities and ideas to focus pupils’ recording so that there is always time for practical science.

All projects funded by the EEF are evaluated by independent experts and AIR (American Institutes for Research) will be carrying out this role for the 2016-18 phase of the TDTS project. In order to enable a fair comparison and a thorough evaluation ofthe impact of TDTS on pupils’ attainment and attitudes in science, the project will be run as a randomised controlled trial (RCT). AIR will randomly assign each participating primary school to either an ‘intervention group’ or a ‘control group’ – intervention school teachers will receive the training in 2016-17 and control school teachers will receive the training in 2017-18. If you agree to be part of this project then it needs to be on the understanding that you are happy for your school to be in either group, since we have to recruit all the schools to the project before the randomisation.

All participating schools will also need to agree to their Year 5 pupils taking a science test in summer 2017.These tests will not involve the teachers or the pupils in any preparation at all and will be administered by NatCen, who are a respected research organisation. Also, because it is equally important to enthuse pupils, there will be an attitude questionnaire for them to complete at the sametime.

As well as the enormous benefits involved in being part of a project which has already shown that it makes a real difference to pupils’ attainment, engagement and motivation in science, each school will also receive £200 worth of science equipment and a resources grant worth £400 or more (depending on the number of participating Year 5 teachers). The accompanying brochuregivesmore details about the research so far and what is involved in this next phase.

Please use the response slip below,or email, tolet Jill TrevethanatThe STEM Education Centre, London, know by 09/05/16 if you are interested in your school being part of this project. If you have any initial queries you would like to discuss first then we are very happy to discuss them with you.All interested schools will be invited to attend a ‘Recruitment Conference’ on 10/05/16 at Elvin hall, UCL IoE, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL at 4pm.The purpose of this will be to fully explain the project, the training programme, the additional resources and the evaluation process to all schools and to give you an opportunity to ask the team questions, prior to making your final decision.

Yours sincerely,

Jill Trevethan

Primary Programme Manager

STEM Education Centre, London, UCL IoE

Yes I would like my school to participate in the ‘Thinking, Doing and Talking Science’ Project

Name of School:Name of Head Teacher:

Contact Name and E-mail:

Number of Year 5 teachers in school:

Number of Year 5 pupils in the school:

Yes I am able to attend the ‘Recruitment Conference’ on 10/05/16 at 4pm

I am unable to attend the ‘Recruitment Conference’ but can send another member of staff

Please respond to:

Jill Trevethan

Primary Programme Manager

STEM Education Centre, London, UCL IoE

20, Bedford Way,

London WC1H 0AL

Email:

Direct Line: 020 76126791