Do we have cognitive (psychology) overload? What could 'the learning sciences' mean for primary science education?

In the recent Ofsted review of research related to science education (Ofsted, 2021), research in cognitive psychology frames learning science as the organisation of knowledge in memory. Science educators have expressed concerns that the importance of language, emotions and hands-on learning and enquiry in primary science may get lost in this view of learning as memory. Perhaps a wider view of ‘the learning sciences’ that includes neuroscience can take us forwards. After a brief explanation of the background to our recent research project addressing these issues, and a response to the Ofsted review, this article has two main parts: how we can use ideas from cognitive psychology in primary science, and how insights from neuroscience research can take us further, although there are critiques of this too