The Primary Education Project which resulted and which started operation in mid-1980 has as its basic objective the improvement of the learning environment for primary pupils aged 7-11+ years, a related purpose being to strengthen UWI assistance to territories in their efforts to improve educational programmes.

This study investigated the effect of science experiences on the fifth-grade Trinidadian child's concept of Piagetian physical causality. The sample comprised 835 children from 37 schools. The tests used were the Concept Assessment Kit—Conservation Forms A & B, the Metropolitan Achievement Test, Form C, and two clinical interviews which assessed the child's concepts of living and floating. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group.

Revisions to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate science syllabuses reflect significant changes to the format of the School-Based Assessment and the process of moderation. The paper explores the professional development needs that these changes may cause. These include planning for teaching and learning, understanding administrative responsibilities and maintaining quality assessment. Assessment for learning is proposed as a suitable framework for supporting the professional development needs of teachers through collaborative activities such as teaming and mentoring.

Previous studies have identified sociocultural factors as one set of classroom variables impacting students’ performance in science. In this study, Jamaican grade 12 students’ perceptions of the sociocultural environment of their chemistry classes were measured, using a modified version of the Sociocultural Environment Scale (SCES) developed by Jegede and Okebukola (1988). The six sociocultural factors explored in this study are: authoritarianism, goal structure, traditional cosmology, societal expectations, sacredness of science and language.

This study investigated Grade 9 students’ attitudes towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the extent to which their attitudes impacted on their academic achievement in Integrated Science. An adapted Students’ Attitudes Towards STEM instrument (Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, 2012) was piloted on 67 high school students in Jamaica and yielded a Cronbach alpha value of 0.821. It was then administered to 259 Grade 9 students from four high schools.