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simmspriscience.bsky.social
SIMMS Primary Science
@simmspriscience.bsky.social
470 followers 490 following 200 posts
The Bluesky account for the St Mary's University (Twickenham) Primary Science Team. All things (or mainly) primary science.
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gregpriest.bsky.social
Because plants move so slowly relative to human time scales, Darwin developed a diagrammatic system to make their movements more easily perspicuous to us.

Below is a cartoon of the apparatus, and one of Darwin’s diagrams.

🧪🌱🐋 #philsci #HistSTM 🦋🦫
Apparatus diagram drawn by Keith Roberts, from Darwin and his Flowers by Mea Allen (1977). Movement diagram from Darwin Online.
November 6, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by SIMMS Primary Science
schoolreadinglist.bsky.social
50 books about minibeasts, including nonfiction, fiction and poetry with titles by Britta Teckentrup, David McKee, Sharon King-Chai, Eric Carle, Steve Jenkins, Giles Andreae, M.G. Leonard, Isabel Thomas and more. schoolreadinglist.co.uk/genres/minib... #kidlit
Minibeast books for children
Children's books about minibeasts, including titles by Britta Teckentrup, Steve Jenkins, Giles Andreae, M.G. Leonard and more.
schoolreadinglist.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 6:42 AM
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dodiscimus.bsky.social
Really interesting paper here on GenAI in assessment in HE:
Corbin, T., Bearman, M., Boud, D., & Dawson, P. (2025). The wicked problem of AI and assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–17. doi.org/10.1080/0260...
The wicked problem of AI and assessment
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has created significant assessment challenges in higher education. Universities and teachers have responded to these in various ways, including by way of ...
doi.org
September 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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emmaturner75.bsky.social
100% Amen to this.
The research on its own is not enough.
May 30, 2025 at 1:42 PM
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smithsmm.bsky.social
Been worried about this for some time, seeing increasingly un-critical school cultures driven by edu-pushers selling silver bullets. I include some of Ofsted’s really poor research in this (see most things related to EYFS ) smithsmm.wordpress.com/2021/07/13/y...
You can’t handle the truth!
We have a new ever present danger. Research into education is a good thing, the best research provides with ways forward to improve our work, it equally provides more questions than answers, it ask…
smithsmm.wordpress.com
May 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
Oooo!
nhm-london.bsky.social Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · May 14
A startling 'sea moth' has been uncovered in Canada!

Named in honour of a Japanese film icon, Mosura fentoni would have been a finger-sized hunter living over half a billion years ago!

Find out about the life of this petite predator 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
New species of ancient Cambrian predator named after Mothra | Natural History Museum
Discovered in Canada, Mosura fentoni is more than half a billion years old.
www.nhm.ac.uk
May 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
And if you have spotify...https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PvqhsYUhU26jCT6Dk2o5y?si=wi2PaTk_Seqe26zbS-n8Hw
benrogersedu.bsky.social Ben Rogers @benrogersedu.bsky.social · May 11
I'm on the great Physics Teaching Podcast! "Modelling Electricity with Ben Rogers is live! Join Robin, Rosie and friend-of-the-Podcast-and-author for a delectable selection of ways to teach electricity spanning from year 4 all the way through to some fun ideas for year 12 A-level classes."
May 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by SIMMS Primary Science
isabelthomas.co.uk
FROG: A Story of Life on Earth hops into the world today!

To celebrate, I have a copy to give away, along with two perfect chocolate frogs!

To enter, share this post and leave a comment below with your best froggy fact 🐸💚 @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
May 8, 2025 at 11:21 AM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
Late to the party - IMO PISA 2025 Science Framework is a game changer. 1. Strong focus on Student Identity AND 2. the relevant Environmental Science Competencies required in the Age of the Anthropocene’" - pisa-framework.oecd.org/science-2025/
PISA 2025 Science Framework
pisa-framework.oecd.org
May 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
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samgibbs.bsky.social
Thrilled to have my piece in TES today. Big thanks to @jonsevers.bsky.social as always for all his support (and not shouting at me when I kept changing the words and the deadline 😂).
May 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
So pleased. It’s only taken three years to produce a flower!!
May 6, 2025 at 7:24 AM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
Already well in the swing of No Mow May… waiting for Jungle June
May 3, 2025 at 1:14 PM
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profsimonfisher.bsky.social
Remember when you first learned about genetics at school? All those fascinating examples of human traits that are each apparently determined by just a single gene? Time to check in on some of your favourites to see how they’re doing. 🧬🧵🧪 1/n
Four images to illustrate some prominent single-gene myths. Top left shows a photograph of a person deftly rolling their tongue into a U-shape. Top right shows a photograph of a person’s ear, highlighting the shape and features of the earlobe and cartilage. Bottom left shows a close-up photograph of a person’s eye, with a vivid blue colouration. Bottom right shows a photograph of a person poised to write with their left hand on the blank white page of a spiral-bound notebook.
May 2, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by SIMMS Primary Science
cmooreanderson.bsky.social
Conference⤵️

Secondary Science Festival (including #chatbiology speakers):

Attendees get a free copy of "Difference Maker" 👌

#SciTeachUK #iTeachBio
April 29, 2025 at 2:35 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
The @rspb.bsky.social big garden watch 2025 results now in… Top 10 below. Spoiler: sparrows retain the top spot www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
Big Garden Birdwatch: The results have landed
What did we learn in the world's largest garden wildlife survey 2025?
www.rspb.org.uk
April 13, 2025 at 8:53 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
Thanks @smithsmm.bsky.social for this beautiful recommendation to add to my ever growing Humboldt collection.
April 13, 2025 at 11:42 AM
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jonsevers.bsky.social
Over the next two weeks, we've asked subject specialists to write about the state of their subject: what are the big challenges, debates and future trends that concern or excite them?

We start with English: @barbarableiman.bsky.social on whether it has lost its soul
www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
English: how the subject lost its spark
Students are falling out of love with English, and can we really blame them, asks subject specialist Barbara Bleiman
www.tes.com
April 7, 2025 at 10:28 AM
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cmooreanderson.bsky.social
Absolutely delighted by this impartial review of my book published in the journal, School Science Review (open access):
www.ase.org.uk/system/files...

#EduSky #UKEd #SciTeachUK #iTeachBio
In the 20+ years that I have been teaching biology I have come across many texts that purport to transform classroom practice and improve student outcomes. However, rarely have I been so convinced by the power of a new theoretical underpinning for a pedagogical technique such as the one presented here. Moore-Anderson provides detailed discussions of systems theory, cybernetics and variation theory and their relevance to the biology classroom. Alongside the explanations, he provides concrete examples grounded in the classroom and over 40 diagrams that can be used to teach key topics. The book starts with explanations of the underpinning theories he has applied to his teaching. This can, at times, be heavy going, and although the ‘key ideas’ are highlighted it can feel like there is a lot of information to absorb. However, as the book continues the scaffolding becomes clear and the reader can see how these ideas build towards coherent classroom strategies. It may be tempting to skip the theory at the beginning of the book and jump to using the diagrams in lessons; however, to be most effective it is important to understand the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ behind these. Although this book is specifically about teaching biology, there are ideas that are relevant to teaching all science disciplines and it may have benefited from a collation of the ‘key ideas’ and ‘assumptions’ presented as they apply to teaching and learning of all sciences or all classroom settings. Overall, Moore-Anderson presents a well-reasoned and compelling argument for the application of cybernetics and variation theory to the classroom. This is not an easy read, but, in my opinion, it is a thought-provoking read and a book that biology teachers should invest time in, to consider the theories, key ideas and diagrams, and how they could apply these in their own classroom. Helen Darlington Faculty Progress Leader for Science at South Wirral High School
March 18, 2025 at 8:34 AM
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tesmagazine.bsky.social
The balance of content in some subjects is ‘hindering progress and undermining standards’, curriculum review lead @beckyfrancis.bsky.social tells the @ascl-uk.bsky.social conference in Liverpool #ASCL2025
Francis: Curriculum content balance ‘hindering progress’ in some subjects
Curriculum and assessment review chair Professor Becky Francis tells ASCL conference that key stage and national assessments are ‘broadly working well’
www.tes.com
March 15, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by SIMMS Primary Science
glazgow.bsky.social
The latest Topical Science Update is now available to download for FREE!

It's a free monthly newsletter for educators featuring engaging sciemce stories in the news for children to read about and do some follow up research.

Find it at www.myscienceclub.com in the FREE Resources section
February 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
Can anyone help me out please? When taking a screenshot of a high-resolution pdf document the resulting cut-and-pasted 'picture' is always grainy. Is there any way of maintaining the original resolution?
February 11, 2025 at 5:28 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
The folks down @PSTT have just released their latest issue of their Why and How? magazine chock full of #prisci goodies. Available here: pstt.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?...
pstt.us16.list-manage.com
February 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM
simmspriscience.bsky.social
The bee is always a staple #prisci topic of study. Lovely to have this guy pop on my timeline everyday with a wealth of digestible bee information. Definitely worth a follow @thebeeguy.bsky.social
February 11, 2025 at 6:15 AM