Science Resources from TIMSS
22 October 2018
Introduction Lesson plan on investigative science - Dissolving Lesson plan on investigative science - Ecosystems Lesson plan on investigative science - Electricity Lesson plan on investigative science - Evaporation
Alternatively, view the Science lesson plans on the CCEA website.
TIMSS is the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. It is an international assessment conducted in a range of countries across the world every four years. TIMSS provides valable comparative information about the relative strengths and weaknesses of participating countries’ education systems and can also be used to track changes in performance over time.
The design of these science lesson plans has been informed by the performance of Year 6 primary school pupils in Northern Ireland on the TIMSS 2015 science assessments. They cover areas from the science curriculum that pupils in Northern Ireland should be doing well in but the TIMSS data indicates these are areas in which pupils are not performing as well as expected.
Pupils in Northern Ireland tended to score below the international average on TIMSS items assessing scientific investigation and enquiry. The four lesson plans (on ecosystems and plants, electricity, evaporation and dissolving) are therefore based on topics that have been chosen as opportunities to incorporate a significant amount of practical and investigative work within the lessons. Each lesson is designed to have a strong practical and investigative element.