Free places on our Thinking, Doing, Talking Science course

We have free and discounted places available on our Thinking, Doing, Talking Science (TDTScience) continued professional development course for teachers at the Science Oxford Centre, starting on 2nd December 2024.

TDTScience is a four-day course for primary teachers that enables you to make science more practical, creative and challenging for all pupils, raising pupil’s attainment and self-confidence in science, especially in those with lower ‘science capital’.

Thanks to funding from The Oxford Trust, we are able to offer subsidised places to all teachers on our upcoming four-day course. We also have free places available to those who work in schools where over 24% of pupils are in receipt of free school meals.

When and where

The four-day course will be delivered at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington, Oxford, on

• 2nd December,
• 27th January,
• 24th March, and
• 5th May.

Cost and how to book

The discounted per-teacher cost for the full course is £400 + VAT. The cost of a second teacher from a school is £200 +VAT.

The course is FREE to one teacher from a school where >24% of children are in receipt of FSM.
The prices include refreshments/lunch on all days and electronic access to all resources.

For further information and booking contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

 

Teachers attending the course will receive:

• Practical activities to use in classrooms straight away
• Support to develop pupils in higher order thinking skills
• Strategies to support progression in ‘working scientifically’
• Content that covers both disciplinary and substantive knowledge

 

What teachers say about the course

“Fantastic course and ultimately life-changing for the recipients…. our children and tomorrow’s scientists.”

“It is the best course I have been on in my 13 years of teaching.”

 

The impact of Thinking, Doing, Talking Science

The TDTScience approach encourages children’s exploration, investigation, discovery and experimentation, and unlocks their excitement and enthusiasm for science. Making lessons more practical, creative and challenging, the TDTScience approach provides opportunities for higher order thinking in science learning.

TDTScience was developed by Science Oxford in partnership with Oxford Brookes University. The ethos behind TDTScience is at the core of all our Science Oxford education programmes and provided the foundation for the development of our Science Oxford Centre in Headington. The course has been named as one of the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘promising projects’. Find out more and watch a video here.

An efficacy trial (results published in the International Journal of Science Education) showed how the TDTS approach significantly increases pupil attainment and positively impacts attitudes in science. Particularly positive effects are shown for girls, while improvements are also shown in pupils with prior low attainment and there are indications the approach is beneficial for pupils eligible for free school meals. Read more here.

As a result of the success of the efficacy trial, the Education Endowment Foundation has funded two effectiveness trials, to assess the impact of the approach at scale. The most recent of these included 180 schools across England, and was completed in 2024. Results will be available early in 2025.

Whilst Science Oxford continues to deliver TDTScience courses in our local region of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, under an exclusive licence from The Oxford Trust, the Primary Science Teaching Trust is now the lead national partner for the ongoing delivery of TDTScience courses in other areas of the UK. For details for upcoming courses nationally, contact [email protected] .

For further details about the TDTScience approach, visit TDTScience.org.uk.