Nuffield Curriculum Centre

Nuffield Science for Key Stage 3

General editors
Nuffield 11 to 13: Mike Lyth
Year 9: Geoffrey Dorling
Years 7 and 8: Mark Ellse

Background
There had been great changes in schools and teaching methods by the time that Nuffield decided to follow up its success with Nuffield Combined Science. This led to a new scheme Nuffield 11 to 13 to cover the first two years of secondary school. This was published in 1986.

Following the successful launch of Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences, the next development was a Year 9 course - designed as a transitional programme between Science 11 to 13 and GCSE. This was published in 1990.

Once the National Curriculum was established Science 11 to 13, and the year 9 course were re-presented as a three-year programme for Key stage 3 published between 1991 and 1993.

Nuffield 11-13
The titles given to the two years of the Science 11 -13 programme seem remarkably prescient when compared with the QCA criteria for GCSE Science from 2006. Year 1 was called: How scientists work and year 2 was called How science is used.

There was a pupil book for each year of the course. These were not conventional textbooks. Less space than usual was given to exposition and factual information. The main aim was to generate interest using case studies to show how scientists worked in the past, how they work today, what they know about the world, and how confident they are in this knowledge. Each book ended with worksheets to show the readers how to do new things, make new things, work like scientists, and find out more about the world.

The teaching approach placed great emphasis on discussion. It encouraged young people to develop their literacy in the context of science through talking and writing.

Nuffield year 9
This one-year programe was intended to be:

• transitional - bridging the gap between the more exploratory approach in years 8 and 9 and the more conceptual approach of GCSE.
  
• activity based - with activities that included not only laboratory work but also SATIS-style exercises, games and tasks to develop literacy.

The student text had a similar appearance to the 11-13 books but included more exposition and explanation. The activities were supported by a file of worksheets.

Nuffield Science for Key Stage 3
This was the last phase of this line of development. The materials from the 11 to 13 and year 9 programmes were reworked to match the new national curriculum. Everything was republished. For each year there was a teachers' guide, a text for pupils, and a file of worksheets for the activities.

Impact of the National Curriculum
The final phase of all this work was not a success. The advent of the national curriculum, the standardisation that this brought with it, together with the implications of the associated testing brought to an end this kind of innovation. Teachers lost the freedom and confidence to take control of their own courses. The new 'compliance culture' favoured teaching to the test.

For a time the market rewarded schemes which used the national curriculum - and later the QCA scheme of work - as the basis for teaching and learning.

The arrival of the National strategy for secondary science at key stage 3 has brought back to prominence issues of teaching and learning that the Nuffield schemes had explored. The national strategy is a programme of self-audit and professional development – an important reminder that curriculum change has to involve more than just publishing resources.