Expert perspectives: ASE Annual Conference Session Roundup

The Conference provides a unique, rich and powerful professional learning opportunity for teachers, technicians, researchers and educators that updates and enthuses delegates to improve science teaching and learning. This year was no exception with over 250 keynotes, workshops and talks over the three-day event and an amazing exhibition of resources and support materials.

We've brought together a selection of write ups from the presenters at Conference to share some of the insights with our wider membership who were not able to attend this year, and for those that did attend and want to catch up on sessions they missed. Please explore the links to the write ups below.  

You can also still view the full programme and access any slides updated by the speakers from our programme platform

Chris Harrison
Conference Secretary for 2025

Day one

Spreadsheets, cooking and chemistry… approaches for tricky questions

Jennifer Marchant

Great Minds on Science Education

James de Winter – Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Using technology to explore authentic data in science classrooms & Why is Core Maths so important to you?

Tom Rainbow, Maths Education Support Specialist for the Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP)

BERG: Fostering pupils’ interest in science at Higher Education & beyond

Dr Carl Harrington, Dr George Witty & Dr Abby Onencan

Using AI in the Chemistry Classroom – Tips, Tricks, and Failures!

Dr Penny Robotham Vice Principal (External Relations & Development)

How to organise and run an A level Chemistry practical training day

Juliet Scully, Head of Chemistry at Elthorne Park High School and Peter Heffernan Head of Science at Elthorne Park High School

‘Like winning the lottery!’: CREST practical kit boxes

Catherine Davies, British Science Association

Formative assessment probes – building conceptual understanding in KS3

Page Keeley, Education Consultant, Florida, USA & Ed Walsh, Education Consultant, UK

CLEAPSS at the ASE Conference 2025

Matt Endean, CLEAPSS

Improving the Quality of Primary Science in the East Midlands

Presented by PSQM hub leaders:
Alex Farrer
Sarah Eames
Tracy Tyrrell
Emma Twomey
Helen Tiplady
Jane Winter

Day two

Prep room management with waste management & Making Spirit Burners

Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield RSciTech, MSc

Technicians - Electromagnetic Magic

John Jermy, Senior Technician Kings Ely

100 Years on from the Scopes Monkey Trial – evolution education then and now

Marianne Cutler (ASE), Michael J Reiss (ASE), Philippa Hulme (ASE), Denise Cush (Bath Spa University), Dave Francis (Big Ideas for RE)

Bringing DNA into the Primary classroom with yourgenome.org

Karen Stephens, Science Engagement Manager with Wellcome Connecting Science at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Good Practical Science: Planning for progression

Ed Walsh, Project Consultant for ASE Good Practical Science project

Enabling learners to think about their thinking in science

Natasha Serret and Alex Black

Making classification relevant

Victor Heng, Outdoor Learning Programme Developer, Natural History Museum

Moss Safari: three conference events & Delivery of a high-quality science curriculum without compromising wellbeing

Dr Andy Chandler-Grevatt, University of Brighton, Founder of Moss Safari

Top issues for reform in science education

Michael J. Reiss, UCL

Talking Science: Time for a change? Science education reform

Marianne Cutler FCCT FRSA, Director Policy and Curriculum Innovation

Scientists can look like me: Challenging stereotypes in Primary Science

Sarah Punshon: Artistic Director, One Tenth Human, Hannah Jeffares: Creative Schools Project Coordinator, Z-arts, Zainab Ahmed and Ameera Vasi: Teachers at St Mary’s Moss Side Primary School

Day three

Wildflower seed bombs - practical approaches using all three sciences

Maren Kelly Head of Science and Maths, Outreach coordinator

Cultivating Science Capital in Pupil Premium (and All) Students

Emily McRae (Pearson) and Catherine Leeson (TeachFirst)

What are executive functions and how do they help children learn maths and science?

Professor Lucy Cragg, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham

Formative assessment probes – starting points for responsive teaching in KS2

Page Keeley, Education Consultant, Florida, USA & Ed Walsh, Education Consultant, UK

Panel session: Practical work in a post-Covid era

David Montagu, Senior Policy Adviser, Royal Society (Chair) 
Steve Jones, Director, CLEAPSS 
Alistair Moore, Research Fellow, University of York Science Education Group 
Caroline Neuberg, Senior Lecturer in Secondary Education, Leeds Trinity University 
Ed Walsh, Science Education Consultant, Ed Walsh Consulting 

Grappling with Graphs

Amanda Clegg AKC Educational Consultancy & Karen Collins Apogee Education, Learning and Development

AI and the science teacher

Prof Miles Berry, University of Roehampton

Work Smart, Not Hard: Retrieval practice and metacognition

Sam Holyman, Educake

Build vocabulary and deepen knowledge – teaching materials with Explorify​

Dr Becky Ellis, PSTT Explorify Content Creator and Jo Moore PSTT Explorify Coordinator

STREAMlining our approach to teaching and learning scientific vocabulary

Alex Farrer, PSQM Regional Lead East Midlands and Science Lead at Wimbledon High School

Elizabeth Jenkins, Assistant Head Academic and Innovation at Wimbledon High School