Elementary science teaching

This chapter is about research related to the teaching of science in the elementary school, that is, to students from 5 to 12 years of age. This age range covers grades 1 to 6 or 7 in most education systems. In some countries, particularly those with an English (UK) heritage, this level of schooling is called primary school; and to complicate things further, the term middle school is used for students aged 10 to 15 years in a number of education systems. For consistency, in this chapter I use the term elementary school for grades 1 to 7.