Understanding Students’ Ideas in Science: Including classroom ready activities for 11-14

Understanding Students’ Ideas in Science: Including classroom ready activities for 11-14

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Find out what your students really think, then teach to it.

Students never arrive as blank slates. They bring ideas from earlier lessons, from family and friends and from everyday life, and some of those ideas quietly work against the science you are about to teach. Understanding Students’ Ideas in Science gives you a fast, practical way to uncover them before you plan the lesson, not after the test.

Each probe is a single page that asks students to choose a best answer and then explain why. That explanation is the point: it often tells you more than the answer does. A second, teacher-facing page does the heavy lifting, setting out the purpose, the key concept, how to interpret responses, where the idea sits in the curriculum, the commonly held ideas that research has uncovered, and what to do next.

Six probe formats keep the approach fresh: justified lists, inventories, friendly talk, opposing views, word choice and predict-explain-observe. Each pairs with a simple classroom technique, from card sorts to four corners, so probes work as quick written tasks or as lively discussion. Use a probe at the start of a sequence, resist giving the answer, then revisit it at the end to see whether thinking has moved. There is no marking, and the evidence can help you review the curriculum itself.

Inside the book

• Ready-to-use probes designed to sit inside lessons, not on top of them
• Guidance on interpreting responses using ‘best idea’ rather than ‘right idea’
• Research-based summaries of commonly held ideas, with references for further reading
• Practical suggestions for responding once you know what students think
• Advice on using probes to gauge the impact of your curriculum, linked to the inspection framework in England

Drawing on the hugely successful American series ‘Uncovering Students’ Ideas’, these probes have been adapted for use in a wide range of settings.

About the authors

Page Keeley is a former President of the National Science Teachers Association, a White House Presidential Award winner for secondary science teaching, and the author of widely used science formative assessment books. Ed Walsh is a former science teacher and adviser, Series Editor for Collins Education and a CPD trainer for AQA.

Understanding Studentss’ Ideas in Science is accompanied by the downloadable resource pack.