Learning Progressions: A Novel Tool for Planning, Teaching and Assessing in Science Education

Abstract Change is a constant factor in education. Curricula are refreshed to reflect the educational outcomes required in a rapidly changing society and pedagogies evolve in response to new insights into how children learn. In this constantly changing environment, teachers embark upon a career-long cycle of professional learning and development. Most primary school teachers in New Zealand are generalist teachers and therefore face the task of remaining up to date with the latest changes across a range of subjects. Some of these changes come with the support of ‘off-the-peg’ resources, such as programmes that can be purchased by schools to implement structured literacy in schools. However, in this paper we focus on the potential of learning progressions (LPs) to support non-science specialist teachers when planning, teaching and assessing children’s understanding of scientific concepts. We detail the development of an LP for the understanding of a science concept pertinent to New Zealand’s endemic species. This LP is presented in a novel format that explicitly encompasses children’s misconceptions and has the potential to be utilised effectively by time-poor teachers as part of their ongoing professional learning and development.