Analysing Primary Science Teaching

A descriptive framework has been presented here for characterising teaching practice in Primary level science classroom in terms of Behaviourist and Constructivist teaching approaches. The research was conducted using a qualitative case study approach in a primary school in UK. The unit of analysis was classroom teaching practice with a focus on lesson presentation method, classroom assessment and students¿ engagement in the learning process. Observation was applied as primary source of data and document analysis was used as the secondary source of information for better understanding. The mentioned features of the observed lessons were compared with principles of behaviourist and constructivist teaching approaches. The analysis has characterised the observed teaching strategy as an integration of principles from both behaviourist and constructivist teaching approaches.