Teaching electricity effectively in the primary school: a case study

The aim of this study was to identify the subject and teaching knowledge which primary school teachers can use to develop effectively children's understanding of electricity and simple circuits. Effectiveness was defined in terms of changes in children's views following teaching, and teaching knowledge as all of the ways in which a leacher helps children acquire an understanding of a topic. A fine-grained and mainly qualitative approach was adopted, in which the learning of six children taught by a non-specialist teacher was analysed in light of the classroom teaching experienced. The principal outcomes were identification of a set of concepts in electricity which can be taught effectvely to primary school children; identification of teaching knowledge which can be effective in developing concepts; a clearer view of the nature of teaching knowledge; and the need for experts to help primary teachers identify appropriate teaching knowledge.