Pupil Research Briefs

The Pupil Researcher Initiative (PRI) was a major UK school science curriculum development initiative. The overriding aim of PRI was to raise student motivation and achievement in school science through providing exciting innovative and stimulating curriculum materials and activities. The briefs were intended to support the teaching and learning of GCSE and Standard Grade science. They were designed to offer new ideas, strategies and contexts for teaching and learning experimental and investigative science, while, at the same time, enabling students to gain an insight into the ways that real research scientists and engineers go about their work.

The Pupil Research Briefs (PRBs) attempted to break new ground in curriculum development. Their design drew heavily on the educational benefits of active student participation in learning and the provision of real and relevant contexts for learning. At the time of publication, the briefs were also intended as a resource to support the Researchers in Residence scheme.

Volume 1 of the PRBs was sent to all UK schools in 1996. A couple of years later, this was followed by ten more briefs in Volume 2. Here the briefs are reordered so that they are grouped by subject area:
* Astro-science
* Biology
* Chemistry
* Earth Science
* Physics

The PRBs were developed by the Centre For Science Education at Sheffield Hallam University with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).