Why Ireland? Why Now?

It is essential that our young people leave school “with the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science as a reflective citizen” (OECD 2017, p7). Over the past thirty years, science education has moved from an emphasis on teaching and assessing scientific content towards the development of students’ scientific literacy (Murphy et al. 2019; EU 2015). 

Recent Irish policy directions (e.g STEM Education Policy Statement  2017 - 2026) propose a number of high-level urgent actions explicitly focused on the development of STEM education for Early Years, such as the provision of “meaningful activities”, “creative environments” and the use of “effective methodologies” ( DES, 2020). 

Given the success of the Physics in Action project 2021/2022 (DCU and SFI) this project extends the scope of using embodied cognition to all aspects of the science curriculum and to a different level of pupil learning (i.e. junior classes).  

Also, there is evidence to indicate that creative involvement in education, which affords both parent and pupil an opportunity to interpret and co-construct the curriculum has been shown to be of significant value to the pupil’s (and parent’s') learning and appreciation of a science subject (Crosnoe et al., 2016; Jakobsen and Andersen, 2013; Jeynes, 2012).