Pupils' views of the role and value of the science curriculum: a focus-group study

Pupils' perceptions of their experience of school science have rarely been investigated. The aim of the research reported in this paper, therefore, wa s to document the range of views that pupils held about the school science curriculum, the aspects they found either interesting and/or valuable, and their views about its future content. As such, the research aimed to articu late their views as a contribution to the debate about the future form and function of the school science curriculum. The method adopted to elicit the ir views was to use focus groups-a methodology that has not been extensivel y used in the science education research. Reported here are the findings fr om 20 focus groups conducted with 144 16-year-old pupils in London, Leeds a nd Birmingham, split both by gender and whether the pupils intended to cont inue, or not, with the study of science post-16. The findings of this resea rch offer a window into pupils' perspective of school science revealing bot h their discontents and satisfaction with the existing curriculum. On the n egative side, many pupils perceived school science to be a subject dominate d by content with too much repetition and too little challenge. From a more positive perspective, pupils saw the study of science as important and wer e engaged by topics where they could perceive an immediate relevance, pract ical work, material that was challenging and high-quality teaching. The imp lications of these findings and the insights they provide for curriculum po licy and school science curricula are discussed.