‘Talking your way out of it’, ‘rigging’ and ‘conjuring’: what science teachers do when practicals go wrong

Abstract

Primary and secondary teachers of science were interviewed and asked to recall their actions and procedures when practicals ‘went wrong’. Three broad categories of response were found. Examples of each category are provided and analysed in terms of the norms, counter‐norms and values used by teachers of science and compared with the norms, counter‐norms and values in science research. Primary and secondary teachers were similar in trying to ‘talk their way out of it’. This category allowed teachers to use their understandings of the Nature of Science to explain ‘going wrong’ to their pupils. The secondary teachers were different from the primary teachers in that they also ‘rig’ and occasionally ‘conjure’ the right results from practicals, particularly demonstrations. We provide rationales for these last two apparently deviant behaviours and indicate that discussion of ‘going wrong’ may be a powerful way to help teachers and pupils understand both science teaching and science.