School Science Review, March 2003, 84(308) 109 Murphy and Beggs Children’s perceptions of school science Children’s perceptions of school science Colette Murphy and Jim Beggs A study of 8–11 year-old children indicates a progressive decline in their enjoyment of school science ABSTRACT A survey of over a thousand 8–11 year-old children in primary schools indicated that children in the more senior classes showed a marked decline in their enjoyment of school science. Older children found certain science topics – such as parts of the flower and evaporation – difficult, chiefly because of the complex terminology involved. There were clear differences between boys and girls: girls generally held more positive attitudes towards school science. The authors consider these results in relation to the content and teaching of primary science. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the well-documented erosion in children’s interest in school science at secondary level has already started in the final years of primary school. We analysed approximately one thousand questionnaires in which children recorded the science topics they liked, their attitudes to science and their favourite subject. In addition, we gathered evidence from oral discussions about science between children and their class teachers. This article summarises our findings and their implications for the teaching of school science at primary level. Background There has been concern over the low level of uptake of science by post-16 students for nearly half a century. Several researchers have indicated that part of the reason for this is that children are ‘turned off’ science at school when they are quite young. Most agree that the erosion of children’s interest in school science occurs between the ages of 9 and 14 (e.g. Hadden and Johnstone, 1983; Schibeci, 1984), even though they retain positive attitudes towards science generally and acknowledge its importance in everyday life. The problem of declining interest in school science is international (but not universal) and many reasons have been put forward to explain it, including the transition between primary and post-primary schooling, the content-driven nature of the science curriculum, the perceived difficulty of school science and ineffective science teaching, as well as home- related and social factors. Research during the last decade has focused on the role of the primary teacher in science. Many findings (e.g. Harlen, Holroyd and Byrne, 1995) have cited problems linked to primary teachers’ lack of confidence in teaching science and their insufficient scientific knowledge background. Other studies have criticised the level of the content of some areas of primary science. Murphy et al. (2001) showed that even tertiary-level students, including those who experienced compulsory school science from the ages of 11 to 16 and some with post-16 science qualifications, could not correctly answer questions in some primary science topics in tests that had been written for 11-year-olds. These problems, when taken together with the emphasis of national tests on content knowledge, may have contributed to science frequently being taught as facts or as a ‘body of knowledge’ in the final two years of primary school. Ponchaud (presentation at ASE 2001 Annual Meeting, Guildford) indicated that further pressures on primary teachers in England and Wales that militate against their delivery of good science teaching may include the recent government initiatives in literacy and numeracy that have resulted in the timetabling of science as short afternoon sessions in many schools. In Northern Ireland, children who wish to attend grammar schools take the Transfer Procedure Test in their final year of schooling. The test is a combination