A survey of the use of newspapers in science instruction by secondary teachers in Northern Ireland

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent and nature of teachers' use of newspapers in the secondary science classroom. A survey was conducted in 50 schools. Through semi-structured interviews with the heads of their science departments, three broad issues were investigated: the prevalence, pattern and purpose of use, classroom practice and curricular priorities. It was found that a great many teachers use newspapers, in some way, to support science instruction. The majority, however, used the resource incidentally rather than systematically. By far their most common intention was to highlight the link between school science and everyday life. Only a few reported that they used newspapers to develop among their students an aptitude and ability to read and respond critically to science in the media. It is suggested that such findings are significant in the context of current discussion of the school curriculum and 'scientific literacy'.