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Science

Our Science Curriculum

At Green Lane Infant School, we understand that a good science education provides the foundations for the children to understand the world around them. We encourage our children to develop an enquiring mind, ask questions and think deeply through an interesting, relevant and meaningful curriculum. Science continues to change our lives in many different ways and learning about scientific knowledge, methods, processes and uses provides the foundations for understanding the world that we live in. It aims to stimulate creative thought and discussion and to help our children to begin to appreciate the way Science will affect our future on a personal, national and global level. We build upon knowledge in three main disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

‘Education is not the learning of facts, but training the mind to think’ Albert Einstein

Our Science curriculum is based on evidence from cognitive science, which explains that in order to transfer knowledge from the short term to long term memory children need to revisit key concepts through spaced repetition. Prior knowledge is then retrieved and built upon. Our curriculum has therefore been carefully developed to ensure that we not only have the coverage of knowledge needed, but this is done in a progressive way building from the first building blocks of inquisitiveness in our Nursery to developing our young scientists who question and think critically in Year 2, with plenty of opportunities for prior knowledge retrieval.

Our curriculum is set out within the 3 disciplines of science; biology, chemistry and physics. We have developed our threshold concepts built from these which are outlined below.

  • Biology- Plants, Investigating animals and humans, Investigating living things,
  • Chemistry- Investigating materials
  • Physics- Understand movement, forces and magnets, Understand the Earth’s movement in space, Investigate light and seeing, Investigate sound and hearing

 

Our curriculum follows and builds on the educational programmes laid out in Development Matters 2020 and the National Curriculum. In Early Years, the science curriculum is taught through direct teach activities where concepts are explored and children are encouraged to ask questions and develop their ideas. Children will be introduced to the idea of conducting a simple experiment to test an idea, as well as to observe, notice, categorise and make a simple recording. The indoor and outdoor continuous provision areas are equally important as we develop children’s natural curiosity about the world around them.

In Key Stage 1, children will develop their scientific skills through carefully planned lessons in line with our threshold concepts and milestone statements. Each lesson is part of a sequence, each one playing an important role in building on the children’s prior knowledge and creating links within their learning. There are regular opportunities for group discussions, collaborative learning and individual tasks. Children will develop skills in scientific enquiry.

Our principle aims are to encourage all children to have a deepening curiosity about the world around them and to develop their knowledge, skills, and understanding.

  • We want pupils to enjoy their science experiences and will be engaged and motivated to learn new skills and vocabulary.
  • To encourage natural curiosity and questioning.
  • To make sense of why and how things work around them today and also in the future.
  • To develop the children’s science cultural capital.
  • To use key vocabulary that can be practiced and applied effectively.
  • To acquire, apply and reason with science knowledge.

Through the explicit teaching of Science skills, both the teachers and the children assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. At the end of the unit, children reflect on their knowledge and understanding. Our assessment systems enable teachers to make informed judgements about the depth of their learning and the progress they have made over time

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

  • Formative assessing of children’s understanding of topic (including vocabulary) using the milestones created by Chris Quigley. This may be done through class discussions, questioning and children demonstrating their understanding.
  • Summative assessment, through the use of assessment POP tasks related to the milestone statements.
  • Images and videos of the children’s practical learning including seesaw
  • Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice)

Annual reporting to parents of standards across the curriculum

There are so many careers which involve science.

An interest in Biology could lead to a job working with humans or animals such as a doctor, nurse, optometrist or vet.

If you are interested in physics, you could go on to have a career in aerospace, construction or engineering.

A love of chemistry could lead to a job in forensic science, pharmacist or food science.

Science is all around us and has helped us move forwards in every aspect of our lives. There is science to be found in many jobs which are essential to modern day living!

There are many, many books which can help your child learn about different aspects of science. Many of these books will be non-fiction books which give us information. Joining your local library and asking them to show you the science section would be a great way to find out what your child is most interested in.

Books like this one, which are full of amazing facts, can develop children’s natural curiosity about the world around them and why certain things happen.

Stories like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Tadpole’s Promise, help children learn about the changes which happen in nature.

Local places to visit

 

There are many places, local to Leicester which you could visit with your child to develop their knowledge about the world around them and how things work.

The National Space Centre is a great place to find out about space travel, the planets and the moon.

At Abbey Pumping Station you can explore how things work with hands on exhibitions.

In Birmingham, there is the Think Tank which is a museum dedicated to helping children develop their scientific knowledge through lots of hands on exhibitions including a fantastic science garden.

At the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, you can find out about dinosaurs which lived long ago and look at the fascinating fossils they have found. There is also a great exhibition about animals from tiny insects to huge mammals.

A visit to the local park to see what types of trees you can spot or hunt for minibeasts is another great way to engage your child in science. You can also talk about the signs of the seasons, the effects of the weather and how things grow and change dependent on the seasons.

Websites to visit to support your child

You can help your child develop a natural curiosity about the world and how it works, by talking to them about how things work and why they work the way they do. There are plenty of websites available which can help explore key areas of interest. Some even have some ideas of simple science experiments which you could do with your child at home.

Science for kids | National Geographic Kids (natgeokids.com)

Science Experiments for Young Kids (sciencebuddies.org)

Stories are a great way of engaging your child in learning about the world around them. The following website has lots of ideas and links to popular children’s books and the scientific knowledge these books can help us explore.

Teaching science through stories – primary (stem.org.uk)

There are some great science magazines available which can help your child learn about our world.

Whizz Pop Bang – The awesome science magazine for children

This is another great site to visit to explore science though stories.

bp educational service | Science in stories

Where next?