How can we teach primary science in ways that are both rigorous and genuinely meaningful?
This interactive session explores how cross-curricular topics such as energy, climate, and sustainability can be taught through enquiry-driven, real-world contexts. Grounded in the primary science curriculum, it demonstrates how linking to geographical understanding—such as rocks and soils, water systems, habitats, environments, and human impact—can strengthen, rather than dilute, disciplinary knowledge.
Participants will take part in a practical renewable energy investigation, modelling how pupils can ask questions, test ideas, and interpret results. The session also introduces free, adaptable resources and shows how they can be used to support substantive and disciplinary knowledge and skills.
We will also explore how initiatives like the Great Science Share for Schools and Practical Action projects can provide purpose and audience for pupil learning, raising engagement and science capital. You will leave with clear, classroom-ready approaches that combine strong science pedagogy with meaningful context—without increasing workload.
By the end of the session, participants will: • Explore enquiry-based science lessons using real-world energy and sustainability contexts • Apply strategies to support pupils in asking questions, investigating, and communicating findings • Integrate opportunities for purposeful talk to strengthen scientific reasoning • Be ready to implement at least one practical, evidence-informed strategy in their classroom
Background: This session draws on classroom practice and cross-curricular curriculum development, with a focus on improving how pupils engage with complex scientific ideas such as energy and climate. My work has been shaped by integrating science and geography to provide meaningful, real-world contexts that support both conceptual understanding and pupil motivation.
I have collated, developed and trialled classroom approaches where pupils ask their own questions, investigate renewable energy systems, and communicate their findings—leading to improved engagement, confidence, and scientific reasoning.
Primary Science Education Consultant, Dr Jo Science Solutions
RSC Excellence in Primary Education Prize 2024. With both a teaching and science background, Dr. Jo Montgomery has more than 20 years’ experience working with children and schools to support science education from Early Years to university. Passionate about encouraging curiosity... Read More →
Photosynthesis and respiration are the chemical reactions that enable solar energy to fuel life on this planet. Photosynthesis is also where almost all living substances start their life.
• The energy pathway from solar to respiration underpins life on earth • It helps students understand the origin of fossil fuels and our climate concerns • It is made far too complex and complicated when part of the biology curriculum • I argue that they need a place in the chemistry and physics curriculum not only in biology.
I have written and produced many resources to help students understand the associated physics (energy) and chemistry, which address misconceptions and simplify what are very complex biochemical pathways:
• FuseSchool short video which has had half a million views https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XIyweZg6Sw • SSR articles https://www.ase.org.uk/resources/school-science-review/issue-382/model-respiration-and-photosynthesis-in-which-oxygen-plays https://www.ase.org.uk/resources/school-science-review/issue-349/fuel-and-food-are-not-made-energy-constructive-view
• Science issues resource. Www.scienceissues.org.uk The talk will start with some questions teachers can use on their students to identify misconceptions. Participants will discuss their ideas in pairs (“Tell Each Other”)
I will show the FuseSchool Video and my simple “stretched oxides” photosynthesis model together with this very simple global diagram to show cross-curricular importance. [Can't attach pictue - it shows the degradation ove energy from sunlight to waste heat driving the cycling of matter: fuel+oxygen = carbon dioxide + water
We then debate how we can give these reactions more importance in future science curricula, linking it all with the need to help students understand the science behind climate change (specifically the origin of the extra carbon dioxide we are putting into the atmosphere).
Join fellow teachers to spark ideas, share challenges and solutions, and develop new classroom resources. Come along with your enthusiasm and experience – no resources necessary!
This fast-paced, hands-on session is designed to strengthen primary and secondary climate change teaching. Delegates will work in small groups so that by the end of the Hackathon, you will have:
designed engaging ways to tackle common misconceptions; identified existing resources that can be repurposed in alternative ways; developed new resources and ideas for the classroom.
You will be supported by climate change experts and curriculum developers to create ideas and resources that can be used by teachers across the country.
An author and CPD presenter, I was a teacher for 20 years, 12 of them as team leader. I then worked as a consultant, supporting teachers and science teams, training teachers and developing curriculum materials. I am now a Series Editor for Collins, CPD Trainer for AQA and Development... Read More →
Join us to relax and unwind during lunchtime at the ASE Annual Conference. Enjoy three stunning short films showcasing fascinating wildlife and their ecosystems.
‘The Caretakers’ is a journey into the weird, wonderful and truly astonishing lives of the small yet mighty creatures who keep the world turning – beetles. They have been successful for millions of years, but they’re in serious trouble; what does the future hold for these incredibly important animals, and for us if they disappear? 21 minutes. Director – Tom Hanner
‘Creatures of the Kaleidoscope’ Explore one of natures most magical creatures, the Cuttlefish. Embark on a mesmerising journey of nature’s living kaleidoscopes. Follow these elusive creatures as this documentary delves deep into the extraordinary lives of these remarkable cephalopods, see their unique abilities as they morph into a stunning array of colours and shapes in a blink of an eye. Witness the incredible transformation from vulnerable prey to cunning predators, navigating the vast oceans ever changing surroundings and dangers. 18 minutes. Director – Hannah Jodie Alexander
‘Fascinating World of Wood Ants’ This film visualizes the lifecycle of Wood Ants and emphasizes their vital ecological role in the ecosystem. It showcases their journey, social dynamics, and ecological contributions, highlighting the importance of preserving their habitats in the face of environmental challenges. 11 minutes. Director – Siddique Salim Khan
These short films are kindly made available for viewing at ASE’s Annual Conference through ASE’s long-standing collaboration with the Museo de Ciencias of the Universidad de Navarra.
The Office for National Statistics published estimates of green jobs in July 2025. 61% of these were STEM-based, especially in engineering and tech and only 3% were nature-based. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated up to 725,000 new roles could be created in low-carbon sectors like renewable energy generation and electric vehicle manufacture.
EngineeringUK has developed a set of curriculum resources, the Climate Schools Programme, in several Key Stage 3 subjects and a simple model for how to use the subject of environmental sustainability to engage students in thinking about engineering and tech careers.
The resources and model are based on solutions to environmental problems, rather than the problems themselves, and naturally extends to the current and future careers associated with those solutions. Attendees will have a chance to explore how they might put these ideas into practice in their setting.
Young people have extraordinary ideas for tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. Too often, those ideas never get beyond the classroom. Project Earth is changing that.
This talk explores how teachers can help young people move from learning science to using science to solve real problems — connecting their ideas with experts, opportunities and the support to take them further.
Don't just teach young people about the future. Give them the tools to help shape it.
Young people have extraordinary potential. Project Earth helps turn it into impact — now..
This workshop will bring together two urgent agendas in science education: helping students make sense of climate and media-based claims, and ensuring they can see clear, meaningful progression into green and vocational futures. It will explore how science curriculum and qualification design can better connect scientific knowledge, evidence evaluation, real-world relevance and future pathways.
Participants will explore how science education can connect disciplinary knowledge with climate literacy, media literacy and green skills; consider how qualification design can make science more relevant and future-facing; and think about how curriculum, assessment and pathways can work together to support informed, motivated and aspirational learners.
Participants will leave with practical ideas for linking science teaching to climate and media literacy, a clearer understanding of how green skills and progression routes can be surfaced within KS4 science, and a stronger framework for thinking about relevance, engagement and future-facing qualification design.
Gardens and other ecosystems depend on pollinators, including bees. As the number of bees and other insects are declining at alarming rates worldwide (e.g., The number of recorded flying insects in the UK fell by 62.5% between 2021 and 2024 [Ball et al., 2024]; Australia is losing up to three species of native insects and other terrestrial invertebrates to extinction every week [Woinarski et al., 2024]), one in four native bee species faces extinction (Kopek & Burd, 2017). Since two-thirds of crops depend on insect pollination, these declines pose serious threats to food security and biodiversity (Feuerbacher et al., 2025).
Teachers can raise awareness of these issues and engage students with pollinators through GBL, which creates a context where students can experience and explore nature, and it offers many benefits to students (e.g., increased physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and self-care skills) (Taşçı & Keleş, 2021). As a matter of ecojustice, GBL also provides equitable access to green spaces, particularly for students from underserved communities (Authors, 2026; Schönfelder & Bogner, 2018; Taşçı & Keleş, 2021).
This presentation will showcase a new K-12 STEAM garden-based learning (GBL) curriculum that focuses on biodiversity and sustainability and was co-developed by an interdisciplinary team of classroom teachers, STEM education researchers, and scientists. We will disseminate evidence of the curriculum’s efficacy from our research with teachers and students. There will be space for questions and answers towards the end of the session.
This presentation involves sharing a new STEAM GBL curriculum with support materials and research results on the efficacy of implementation.
Outcomes: Participants will learn about and explore free, online resources that integrate social and emotional learning through the 3-H learning model (Hearts-on, Hands-on, Heads-on). Resources include 135 integrated K-12 STEAM GBL lessons, recommended children’s literature and reference books, 24 teacher and family resource sheets for sustainable gardens, citizen science projects, and 18 STEM career videos. A limited number of native bee colouring books will be available to the first arriving attendees, with online access for all participants.
Background: As a science educator and researcher with more than 40 years of experience in science education leadership, including 10 years of public-school teaching, I have led 4 transdisciplinary teams in developing curricula for K-12 students and PreK teachers, including work with National Geographic, Primrose Schools, the Ohio Department of Education, and USDA-NIFA. This session will focus on our most recent project.
