Develop your teaching with free online courses

STEM Learning have added some excellent courses on the FutureLearn platform that are perfect for primary school teachers aiming to improve their science teaching. They take on average 3 hours a week for 3 weeks, but you'll have access to the course for 5 weeks if you want longer. 

You can take the course in a mentoring phase or just by yourself. Lesson times aren't fixed, so you can take classes at your convenience. Browse the whole of STEM Learning's course schedules here. 

It's a great time to plan some professional development across the year. With real classroom footage and discussions with other teachers in the comments, you're supported by experienced educators to get the most from the online courses. 

Here's a quick tour of what's available from STEM Learning, all links will take you directly to the FutureLearn course for more information. Most of these courses feature Explorify so are ideal to take alongside running Explorify activities in your class.

Starting Out?

If you're new to teaching primary science, Explorify features in an excellent course, called Primary Science: Getting Started.

Which science?

These courses split the science into physics, chemistry and biology. Why not take one per term?

- Teaching Primary Science: Physics

- Teaching Primary Science: Chemistry

- Biology - coming soon!

Space-time! These courses are great for a deeper focus on space. 

- Teaching Primary Science: Human Spaceflight

- Teaching Primary Science: Exploring Space

Home learning support?

There's also a 2-week course focused on supporting learning for home working. Teaching for Home Learning: Primary Science

We hope you find these courses are a great way to fit CPD into your very busy school schedule!

Good luck! 

Image credit: STEM Learning