PUPPETS – Puppets Promoting Engagement and Talk in Science research (ongoing)
The research was funded by the Nuffield Foundation. It explored the use of puppets to engage and motivate children and promote learning conversations in primary science lessons. Teachers were given a short professional development session on the use of the puppets and then returned to their classrooms with two human-style puppets to use in their normal science teaching. Teachers in primary schools were asked to teach from their usual science scheme of work and to use either one or two puppets to introduce the focus for the lesson.
Research questions were:
• In what ways can puppets be used to enhance children’s engagement and promote talk in science lessons?
• What is the impact on children’s talk involving reasoning when puppets are used in science lessons?
• What is the impact on teachers’ beliefs or practice in relation to talk when puppets are used in science lessons?
The main data source was video evidence of lessons before and after the introduction of puppets. The resulting classroom discourse was analysed using a 30-second observation schedule. Significant behaviour was also noted. Data were also collected from interviews with teachers, interviews with children and teacher reflective diaries.
The main findings were that the use of puppets enhanced engagement and motivation; increased the amount of classroom talk, especially in those who typically said least; and generated more reasoning talk amongst the children. Teachers changed their practice by asking far more reasoning questions, giving less information and creating a more positive learning environment.
The research led to a major professional development project (Puppets: talking science, engaging science) in the UK from 2006-2009. The approach has been extended into mathematics, with pilot funding from NCETM. (see PUPPETS project)
The professional development project was independently evaluated by David Shakespeare. The independent evaluation showed a high degree of success in terms of change in teacher practice (see Teacher Change research).
Publications by Brenda Keogh and Stuart Naylor et al
Keogh B. & Naylor S. (2009) Puppets count. Mathematics Teaching, 213, 32-34.
Simon, S., Naylor S., Keogh B., Maloney, J. and Downing, B. (2008) Puppets promoting engagement and talk in science. International Journal of Science Education, 30, 9, 1229-1248.
Shakespeare, D. (2008) PUPPETS – talking science, engaging science: an evaluation of the project. London: Nuffield Foundation.
Naylor S., Keogh B., Downing, B., Maloney, J. and Simon, S. (2007) The Puppets Project:
using puppets to promote engagement and talk in science. In R. Pinto and D. Couso (Eds) Contributions from Science Education Research, p.289-296. Springer.
Naylor S., Keogh B., Downing, B., Maloney, J. and Simon, S. (2006) The PUPPETS Project: Puppets Promoting Engagement and Talk in Science. Final Project Report to the Nuffield Foundation. London: Nuffield Foundation.
Keogh B., Naylor S., Downing, B., Maloney, J. and Simon, S. (2006) PUPPETS bringing stories to life. Primary Science Review, 92, 26-28.
Naylor S., Keogh B., Downing, B., Maloney, J. and Simon, S. (2005) The PUPPETS Project: using puppets to promote engagement and talk in science. Paper presented at the ESERA Conference, Barcelona, Spain.
Publications related to the professional development programme are:
Spellbound Science 1 and 2 (written by Brenda Keogh and Stuart Naylor)
Discovery Dog (written by Kate Blacklock, Jan Childe and Debbie Eccles)
Problem Pup (written by Kate Blacklock, Jan Childe and Debbie Eccles)
