The Science Museum of the University of Navarra brings to Spain an innovative methodology to teach Natural Sciences in schools.

The Science Museum of the University of Navarra is developing a training project on Science Didactics in order to offer new pedagogical approaches for the teaching of Natural Sciences (knowledge del Medio) in primary schools ( Education ).

This initiative is part of an observational study that is being carried out in primary schools in Spain ( Education ) and is possible thanks to funding from the Templeton World Foundation and the provision of materials from the association for the Education Association for Science Education (ASE- Association for Science Education).

Through this project we intend to offer training, pedagogical tools and materials that facilitate scientific dialogue in the teaching of science in primary school. The methodology is aimed at helping students learn collaboratively to use scientific practices in the elaboration of their ideas and understand the importance of questions and reasoning when doing science, as Marianne-Reynell, director of development of the Science Museum, indicates: "The aim is that the academic staff of Primary School uses this methodology to motivate students to observe, organize relevant information, draw conclusions and reason their answers scientifically from an early age through dialogue and partnership".

The didactic material focuses on the figure of the scientist Mary Anning, who in 1812 discovered the Ichthyosaurus now housed in the Natural History Museum in London. The materials have been designed by Stuart Naylor and Marianne Cutler, two experts in Science Education from association for the UK's Education of Science and who have over fifty years of experience in the field.

So far, two training sessions have been held for the academic staff where thirteen schools from the Comunidad Foral, Comunidad Valenciana, Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country have participated. The third session will be held on September 18 and 19, and schools wishing to participate can contact contact through the Science Museum's e-mail address: museociencias@unav.es.

Among the first schools to implement this methodology is the Irabia-Izaga school in Navarra, where students in 4th, 5th and 6th grades of primary school have taken the project program through different subjects such as Science, Social Studies, Religion and Art.

For Juan Galarraga, a teacher at Irabia-Izaga, one of the positive aspects of this project is that students learn to ask themselves questions and seek answers to certain issues: "It is a way of teaching that focuses on dialogue, in which students draw conclusions through discussion and active listening to the opinions of their classmates".