Welcome to the new look Journal of Emergent Science! In line with the ASE’s other journals, JES has had a bit of a facelift. The new sleek style does not mark a change in content: we still aim to publish open-access research for, and by, our audience of early years practitioners, primary school teachers, teacher educators and researchers.

In the first article, Havva Gorkem Altunbas and Joy Parvin provide a review of research arising from the Children Challenging Industry (CCI) programme, which has been working with primary schools for nearly 30 years. Exploration of pre- and post-programme questionnaires provides insight into the children’s interest in science and STEM careers after linking with local companies. The third article also explores innovative ways to work with scientists, as Jamila Hussain and Vince Wilson provide a practitioner perspective on setting up an out of school science club for local families.

Emma Whewell and Helen Tiplady take us outdoors with their pre-service primary teachers, with a participatory action research project aimed at building the skills and confidence needed to teach science outside. With training that provided both the opportunity to reflect on challenges such as risk assessment or behaviour concerns, together with the experience of learning outdoors, the project supported the pre-service teachers to experience science in a way that they could see themselves implementing in their future practice.

The final contribution is a test case for our new article type. In adding a ‘collective article’ to our list of JES options, the aim is to support more practitioner voices to be heard. A range of short (200-300 words) contributions are brought together to consider how a particular topic is enacted in different contexts. In this issue, Julie Horsburgh, Rachael Newham, Danielle MacLeod, Darren McTurk, Graeme Robertson, Jayne Ross and Sarah Earle describe stories of primary science practice from classes where children are a mix of ages. The unique nature of mixed-age classes means that each teacher’s description of their context can demonstrate a different way of making it all work for the children in that class.