Practical work is frequently and widely used in the teaching of science in secondary schools in England (Bennett 2005). Indeed, many science teachers in England believe its frequent use to be both ‘the “natural” and “right” thing to do’ (Millar 2002, 53) and that it plays an important role in motivating students towards the study of science (Abrahams and Saglam 2010; Hodson 1990). However, many of the claims regarding the affective value of practical work have arisen from broader studies into students’ attitudes to science in general (e.g. Barmby, Kind, and Jones 2008; Bennett and Hogarth 2009; Cerini, Murray, and Reiss 2003; Jenkins and Nelson 2005; Osborne and Collins 2001) rather than to practical work in particular. Indeed, there has been little research that has specifically examined students’ attitudes solely to practical work and how these may change chronologically as students study science throughout their compulsory education. Whilst the onset of a decline in pupil interest in science from Year 7 onwards has been reported (Bennett 2005; Doherty and Dawe 1988) indeed, Abrahams (2009) found that almost a half of Year 7 attitudinal claims about practical work were merely statements of relative preference no study has yet looked to see how attitudes change throughout compulsory secondary science education. Whilst there is research to suggest that teachers consider practical work to have a positive impact on students’ attitudes (Holstermann, Grube, and Bögeholz 2009), students themselves have rarely been asked to express their views about practical work in isolation from science lessons in general. Indeed, Wellington (2005) has suggested that there is a need to ask students direct questions regarding their attitudes to practical work in order to probe further the specific impact that it is having on their attitudes to science.
University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research
Dr Rachael Sharpe, University of Lincoln, School of Education
Prof Ian Abrahams, University of Lincoln, School of Education