ASE 2027 Annual Conference

Join us to unpick the headline changes and what is already working in your setting.

This masterclass is aimed at primary subject and cross phase leaders, curriculum developers in schools MATS and trusts.

You are encouraged to bring your current primary science long-term plan to reflect on what will be needed to be ready to teach this new curriculum in September 2028
Leave feeling confident and with a plan of action for the next 12 months

As a result of attending this session, you will be able to:

• Create a personal timeline of planned actions for readiness to teach the new primary science curriculum in 2028
• Identify changes needed to your long-term planning and resources
• Consider subject knowledge and CPD implications for science leaders and teachers of science at your school

This session explores how inquiry-based learning (IBL) in primary science can move beyond procedural or “pseudo” inquiry towards authentic inquiry where children genuinely hold epistemic authority within the classroom.

Drawing on an ongoing PhD study at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education alongside practical classroom implementation using White Rose Science resources, the session will examine the relationship between teacher identity, working scientifically and pupil voice in primary science.

Recent national conversations have highlighted that while substantive knowledge is increasingly secure, disciplinary knowledge and authentic scientific inquiry remain underdeveloped. In many classrooms, children are still receiving science rather than actively doing science. This session argues that the challenge is not simply a lack of resources or curriculum structure, but a teacher identity issue.

The session will share findings from collaborative Lesson Study cycles conducted in a Year 4 classroom with a high proportion of EAL learners. The research focuses on how teachers interpret classroom moments such as silence, misconceptions, uncertainty and pupil struggle, and how those interpretations shape whether pupils are positioned as passive recipients of knowledge or active participants in scientific meaning-making.

Participants will explore the distinction between transmission teaching, pseudo-IBL and authentic IBL, considering how subtle teacher responses can either open or close epistemic space for children. Practical examples from science lessons will demonstrate how small shifts in teacher behaviour, such as allowing productive silence, redirecting questions back to pupils and encouraging peer-to-peer scientific discussion, can significantly increase student voice and disciplinary engagement while still working within existing curriculum structures.

Practical examples from a Year 4 science classroom will illustrate a clear inquiry-based lesson structure centred on recurring working scientifically skills. Lessons begin with recap activities and image stimuli that encourage children to notice, wonder and connect prior knowledge. Throughout the lesson, pupils repeatedly apply the same scientific skill in different contexts while teachers observe carefully for misconceptions, uncertainty and participation, using these observations to shape shared anchor charts and individual science journal entries. Exit passes are then used to assess developing understanding.

The session argues that this approach depends on teachers being confident in holding epistemic space for pupils, a confidence developed through collaborative Lesson Study and identity-focused professional reflection. Delegates will leave with practical, manageable strategies for collaborative planning, observation and reflection that can be implemented immediately in classrooms and schools.

Whilst this session is proposed by White Rose Education, this session is not promoting White Rose Science, and is focussing on the PhD research. This is not a funded initiative. The PhD researcher is a WRS customer and we are supporting him in his research.

This venue has been made available for primary science educators to get together and network during their scheduled lunch break.

Pop-up make and take will take place in the same space in the session following lunch at 13.35 - but it's a big room, so there's sufficient space and interest for both elements!

Grab your lunch and come along for some networking and informal chatting.

Step into a hands-on marketplace of science educators sharing ideas, where every stall offers a quick, practical science enquiry you can build, trial, and take straight back to your classroom.

From clever investigations using everyday materials to simple models that spark big thinking, each activity is designed to be low-cost, high-impact, and rooted in working scientifically.
 
Dip in and out, follow your curiosity, and leave not just inspired, but equipped with ready-to-use resources, fresh enquiry ideas, and the confidence to recreate the experience with your pupils.

Join the team working with the Department for Education to develop the reformed Science Programmes of Study in England and GCSEs subject content as we outline the priorities and evidence underpinning the drafting process. This session focuses on KS3 and KS4 plus transition from KS2 and KS1.

Please note the other sessions in the conference programme, on KS1 and KS2, and on biology, chemistry and physics at KS3 and KS4.

This session focuses on a 5 year research and development project SCIENCE NINJAS that CLEAPSS and King's College London undertook with teachers in primary schools. It will chart the developmental journey we took in framing and adapting the professional learning work that we undertook with primary teachers, across KS1&2, as they explored and experimented with both increasing the amount of practical activities they did with their classes and how they focused in on the teaching and assessment decisions they needed to take to support science learning through practical work.

This project was built on a collaborative approach with classroom teachers, CLEAPSS teacher educators and researchers from King's. Each of these groups has benefitted greatly in their knowledge, understanding and skills required to ensure practical activities in primary not only engage children but help them learn science. In our talk we will report on how science NINJA leads from the research schools have perceived the impact of the project on their children, their teachers and themselves and what they have found beneficial and tricky in steering the professional learning during this project.

This will be topped with reflections from the CLEAPSS and King's team. So come along and have a taste; we promise their will be delights as well as treats to take back to your own classroom or share with interested colleagues.