The IAP book Working with Big Ideas of Science Education in now available in Russian and is downloadable for free from this link on the IAP website. Written by Wynne Harlen, this book sets out 10 big ideas of science (e.g. ‘All matter in the Universe is made of very small particles’), and four ideas about science (e.g. ‘Scientific explanations, theories and models are those that best fit the evidence available at a particular time’). For each of these big ideas the progression in development is described in terms of a narrative; a story of how small ideas build into bigger ones.

 

Working with Big Ideas of Science Education discusses the implication for the selection of content, pedagogy, student assessment and teacher education of putting the principles and big ideas into practice. In relation to pedagogy there is a reciprocal relationship between inquiry and working towards big ideas. Inquiry facilitates deep understanding, but will only be of benefit to young people if the ideas they develop lead them to make sense of the world around and appreciate the nature of science and its impact on our lives.

 

IAP thanks Nadezda Polianovica (Rigas Klasiska gimnazija) for the Russian translation of this text, and Nurzhan Zhagypar (student  Faculty of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Physics and Technology, Lev Gumilyov National State University 2, Kazakhstan) for the review of the translation.