The Role of Curricular Resources in Mediating Primary Science Teaching and Learning

Rooted in a landmark three-year study of Singapore’s classrooms, this book examines how distributed scaffolding, material tools, and social interactions help primary school children transition from everyday spontaneous ideas to formal scientific concept.

Grounded in Lev Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory and distributed scaffolding, this book reveals how abstract scientific concepts become accessible to young minds. Through detailed classroom episodes and rich video analysis, readers will witness how curricular resources – like Singapore’s innovative SPARKLE hands-on kits and the Singapore Student Learning Space – work alongside teacher-led epistemic, procedural, and conceptual scaffolding to transform everyday ideas into formal scientific knowledge. Moving beyond theory, this book also provides an actionable, novel framework to make routine, daily classroom interactions visible for discussion, analysis, and refinement.

This book is an indispensable resource for researchers, graduate students and academics in the fields of primary and elementary education, science education, classroom teaching and curriculum studies. It will also be beneficial for primary school teachers and curriculum developers who want to foster intellectual risk-taking, enhance student agency, and nurture the next generation of critical thinkers.