Science AT DOWNSHALL KEY STAGE 1 AND 2
Subject Leader: Ms Kazmi (KS1) and Ms Sultana (KS2)
Introduction
In key stage 1, the primary objective of teaching science is to give students the opportunity to explore and observe phenomena while paying closer attention to the natural and artificial environments around them. Encourage them to be inquisitive and ask questions about what they see. They should be assisted in deepening their understanding of scientific concepts by using various forms of scientific inquiry to address their own inquiries, such as observing changes over time, identifying patterns, classifying and grouping objects, conducting simple comparative tests, and studying information from secondary sources. They ought to start talking about their findings in simple scientific terms and expressing their thoughts to various audiences in a variety of ways. The majority of science learning should be accomplished through hands-on practical experiences, but some usage of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, pictures, and videos, should also occur.
Lower key stage 2 science teaching primarily aims to help students develop a more expansive scientific view of their surroundings. They should accomplish this by investigating, discussing, testing, and creating ideas about everyday phenomena, the interconnections between living things and well-known settings, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should formulate their own questions about what they see and decide which types of scientific enquiry, such as observing changes over time, identifying patterns, classifying and grouping objects, conducting easy comparative tests, and learning information from secondary sources, are likely to be the most effective ways to find the answers. In their first discussions and subsequent writing about their findings, they must to make straightforward deductions and use scientific terminology.
The main goal of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to help students get a greater knowledge of a variety of scientific concepts. Learners should do this by examining and discussing their concepts, posing their own queries about scientific phenomena, and doing more thorough analyses of functions, relationships, and interactions. At upper key stage 2, they should come across more abstract concepts and start to understand how these concepts aid in their comprehension and forecasting of how the world works. Children should start to understand that scientific concepts evolve and change throughout time. They should decide which types of scientific enquiry, such as observing changes over time, noting patterns, classifying and grouping things, conducting fair and comparative tests, and learning information from a variety of secondary sources, are the most effective ways to respond to science questions. Students should develop conclusions from their data and observations, support those conclusions with evidence, and then explain those conclusions using their scientific knowledge and expertise.
Subject Drivers
- Children develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding;
- Children develop understanding of the processes and methods of scientific enquiry that help to answer questions about the world around us;
- Children develop an understanding of the uses of science in the world today and for the future.
National Curriculum
| Topics Covered EYFS | Topics Covered KS1 | Topics Covered LKS2 | Topics Covered UKS2 |
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Autumn
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Autumn
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Autumn
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Summer:
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Quotes from the children
“There’s lots of experiments which we can test out and different ingredients you need to make a science experiment” – Manha (4U).
“I like it because we test out theories and find out if they’re true or false. We find out big ideas linked to topics. We do cool experiments and know what will happen in the future. It tells us what will go through when we grow up” – Samit (5S).
“Science is interactive and we can look at what we’re learning about. We enjoy doing experiments because it’s fun. We enjoy researching different things on laptops. We get to test different things. I get to learn new things every day”- Hana (6M).
Subject Display
Science Week 2022
Enrichments
Downshall Primary School celebrated British Science Week (14th- 18th March) throughout the school. It was a five-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. The theme this year was ‘growth’ and children enjoyed hands-on investigations and different scientific experiments. They spoke about why scientists are important and how they make a huge difference to the world around us.
In Reception, children learnt the concept of height and measured themselves in comparison to other objects around them.
"Using a tape measure, we can measure windows and doors" – Amraj (RT).
"We can measure the height of children" – Zaid (RT).
In year 2, children investigated questions about how your body grows and whether our body parts grow as we get older.
“I really enjoyed this investigation to see if our body parts grow as we get older. I found out that as we get older our hands get bigger in size” – Hajra (2S).
“We recorded our results on a graph and found that our body parts grow as we get older. Some children’s body parts are still small even though they are in year 5 and 6” – Hannah (2K).
In year 4, children used their engineering skills to investigate what factors affect how stretchy slime is!
Trips
Reception – In connection with the topic of "Understanding the World," the children will visit a park to view minibeasts and flowers.
Year 1 - Children visited the park in Autumn 2 to look at signs of Winter. They completed the trip as a warm-up lesson for the subject of seasonal changes.
Year 2 – Children will participate in a material hunt at the Olympic Park that is related to their study of materials.
Year 3 – Students visited the Natural History Museum to view Mary Anning's pioneering fossils and volcanoes.
Year 4 - In the first week of November 2022, Year 4 visited the Science Museum as a part of their learning on the Digestive System.
Year 5 The children visited the Royal Observatory (Planetarium) to gain more knowledge about the planet and outer space.
Year 6 – The children will be going to the Natural History Museum for their Science Unit; Evolution and Inheritance.