Science

Summary highlights and key changes

  • SC1 – Scientific Enquiry  is at the heart of the programmes of study although it is now termed Working Scientifically
  • SC2 – Life  processes & Living Things has been split into Animals including humans, Plants and Living things and their habitats
  • SC3 – Materials and their Properties has been split into States of Matter and Properties and changes of materials
  • SC4 – Physical Processes has been split into Electricity, Forces and magnets, Forces, Light, Sound and Earth and Space
 Key Stage 1
  • There are no learning objectives for teaching KS1 children about drugs
  • ‘Environment’ is now termed ‘habitat’
  • There is more emphasis in the new curriculum on knowing the names of different animals and plants
  • The new curriculum introduces a new unit, Seasonal Changes
  • Two units have been dropped entirely: Electricity and Forces & Motion
 Key Stage 2
  • Studying electricity has been moved to KS2 and there is more demand in Year 6 where children are required to study voltage of cells
  • Study of Evolution and Inheritance has been added to the new curriculum as a unit of study in Year 6. This could be taught as an easy addition to the original year 6 unit Independence and Adaption.

For further information please see Michael Tidd’s document

Key points for schools to consider

Progression

There is a clear progression of objectives within the programmes of study. A document entitled ‘Planning for Progression with investigative skills explains this in detail.

Professional Development

When planning the Science curriculum in schools and considering how units will be taught, for example a whole school event or topic week, it is an ideal opportunity to provide CPD to staff. This could be increasing confidence amongst staff in delivering investigation focused lessons.

Timetabling

New statutory programmes of study and attainment targets will be introduced for all year groups except Years 2 and 6. For those year groups, the new curriculum will take effect from September 2015. These two year groups will complete end of key stage assessment following the previous curriculum. There is no specific requirement with regard to the amount of time that should be spent on Science teaching. However, as Science is returning as a Core subject, suggested timings as a minimum would be KS1 – 1½ hours, KS2 – 2 hours, as an average for every week. Consideration needs to be given to the teaching of units, as some units maybe more appropriately taught in a block e.g. Magnetism, electricity, forces, sound and materials, whereas some units may be better suited over a period of time to show changes e.g. Plants, light, earth and space. Furthermore, the Year 1 unit ‘Seasonal Changes’ should be taught over the period of a year. Most year groups have 5 units to cover over the year, so schools should consider what could be taught in the spare half term. This provides an ideal opportunity for the children to develop and apply investigative skills in the context of other curriculum areas.

Working Scientifically

explicitly states that children should use simple equipment and perform simple tests. This makes science more hands-on for the children and enables them to fully experience science for themselves rather than by just videos and demonstrations. When planning investigations it is important to plan different types of scientific investigations that teach different skills.

See Alison Eley’s document Different types of scientific investigation  In the new curriculum different units in the programmes of study, are broken down into recommended years of study, these are not compulsory. Previous units taught may be able to stay in the original year group with minor adjustments.

Spoken language

is given greater emphasis in the curriculum, so resources such as I can explain! and Talking Science are a valuable means of supporting this.  There are other supporting resources available on the Primary Science Teaching Trust website.

Outdoor learning

The new curriculum encourages schools to use outdoor activities as a context to develop enquiry skills. It promotes environmental activities that will help your children understand how science underpins the natural world.

Resources

There are many fantastic resources available to encourage cross curricular links, especially for science investigations. Examples of links to the Tudors are available here.

Further examples for Key Stage 2 are here:

Case studies

  1. Primary Science Quality mark – Hampton Hill Junior School
  2. Talking Science – Collis Primary School
  3. Science Week: ‘Mission X’ –  St Andrew’s and St Mark’s CE Junior School

 

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