Science
At Salterhebble, we strive to deliver a high quality Science curriculum which allows our pupils to recognise the significance of science in their everyday lives. We explicitly teach pupils the skills and knowledge they need to become methodical, analytical and inquisitive scientists.
Our curriculum has science enquiry at its heart. We encourage our pupils to be enquiry based learners and our science teaching ensures our pupils develop the necessary disciplinary knowledge as they progress through the school to enable them to become the scientists of the future.
As scientists, pupils throughout Salterhebble work collaboratively to develop their research, communication and critical thinking skills. We encourage curiosity about natural phenomena and encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world around them.
We ensure all children are exposed to high quality science teaching and a range of learning experiences. Science teaching is carefully sequenced to ensure a clear progression of substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge. Each lesson is designed to explore and build on children’s prior knowledge. This allows for misconceptions to be addressed effectively.
The substantive knowledge builds progressively to develop children’s understanding of concepts, models, laws and theories. It is organised into the following four areas:
Biology
- Living things and their environment
- Reproduction, inheritance and evolution
Chemistry
- States of matter
- Materials (properties and changes)
Physics
- Energy
- Forces
Earth Science
- Earth and space
The disciplinary knowledge builds progressively to enable children to work scientifically and covers the following aspects:
- Methods used to answer questions
- Using apparatus and techniques
- Data analysis
- Using evidence to develop explanations
End Points
By the end of KS1, children will be able to:
Working scientifically –
- Ask simple questions and recognise that they can be answered in different ways.
- Observe closely, using simple equipment.
- Perform simple tests.
- Identify and classify.
- Use their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions.
- Gather and record data to help in answering questions
Science content –
- Name and locate parts of the human body, including those related to the senses, and describe the importance of exercise, a balanced diet and hygiene for humans.
- Describe the basic needs of animals for survival and the main changes as young animals, including humans, grow into adults.
- Describe the basic needs of plants for survival and the impact of changing these and the main changes as seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.
- Identify whether things are alive, dead or have never lived.
- Describe and compare the observable features of animals from a range of groups.
- Group animals according to what they eat, describe how animals get their food from other animals and/or from plants, and use simple food chains to describe these relationships.
- Describe seasonal changes.
- Name different plants and animals and describe how they are suited to different habitats.
- Distinguish objects from materials, describe their properties, identify and group everyday materials and compare their suitability for different uses.
By the end of KS2, children will be able to:
Working scientifically –
- Describe and evaluate their own and others’ scientific ideas related to science topics
- Use evidence from a range of sources.
- Ask their own questions about the scientific phenomena that they are studying, and select the most appropriate ways to answer these questions, recognising and controlling variables where necessary (i.e. observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests, and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources).
- Use a range of scientific equipment to take accurate and precise measurements or readings, with repeat readings where appropriate.
- Record data and results using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs.
- Draw conclusions, explain and evaluate their methods and findings, communicating these in a variety of ways.
- Raise further questions that could be investigated, based on their data and observations.
Science Content-
- Name and describe the functions of the main parts of the digestive, musculoskeletal and circulatory systems; and describe and compare different reproductive processes and life cycles in animals.
- Describe the effects of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on how the body functions.
- Name, locate and describe the functions of the main parts of plants, including those involved in reproduction and transporting water and nutrients.
- Use the observable features of plants, animals and microorganisms to group, classify and identify them into broad groups, using keys or other methods.
- Construct and interpret food chains.
- Describe the requirements of plants for life and growth and explain how environmental changes may have an impact on living things.
- Use the basic ideas of inheritance, variation and adaptation to describe how living things have changed over time and evolved; and describe how fossils are formed and provide evidence for evolution.
- Group and identify materials, including rocks, in different ways according to their properties, based on first-hand observation; and justify the use of different everyday materials for different uses, based on their properties.
- Describe the characteristics of different states of matter and group materials on this basis; and describe how materials change state at different temperatures, using this to explain everyday phenomena, including the water cycle.
- Identify and describe what happens when dissolving occurs in everyday situations; and describe how to separate mixtures and solutions into their components.
- Identify, with reasons, whether changes in materials are reversible or not.
- Use the idea that light from light sources, or reflected light, travels in straight lines and enters our eyes to explain how we see objects, and the formation, shape and size of shadows.
- Use the idea that sounds are associated with vibrations, and that they require a medium to travel through, to explain how sounds are made and heard.
- Describe the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the features of its source; and between the volume of a sound, the strength of the vibrations and the distance from its source.
- Describe the effects of simple forces that involve contact (air and water resistance, friction), that act at a distance (magnetic forces, including those between like and unlike magnetic poles), and gravity.
- Identify simple mechanisms, including levers, gears and pulleys, that increase the effect of a force.
- Use simple apparatus to construct and control a series circuit, and describe how the circuit may be affected when changes are made to it; and use recognised symbols to represent simple series circuit diagrams.
- Describe the shapes and relative movements of the Sun, Moon, Earth and other planets in the solar system; and explain the apparent movement of the sun across the sky in terms of the Earth’s rotation and that this results in day and night.
Science Fair
Well done to all our scientists who created a science project for our first Science Fair! All the children worked incredibly hard and have wowed us with their scientific knowledge and understanding! From interesting and exciting experiments, to careful research, and wonderful presentation, every single project has showcased the children's talent and enthusiasm for scientific discovery!
