Science
Intent:
To provide vertical progression, Science is taught through threshold concepts in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Work Scientifically:
This concept involves the methodologies of the discipline of Science.
Biology:
Understand Plants: This concept involves becoming familiar with different types of plants, their structures and reproduction processes.
Understand Animals & Humans: This concept involves becoming familiar with different types of animals, humans and the life processes their share.
Investigate Living Things: This concept involves becoming familiar with a wider range of living things, including insects and understanding life processes.
Chemistry:
Investigate Materials: This concept involves becoming familiar with a range of materials, their properties, uses and how they may be altered or changed.
Physics:
Understanding Movement, Forces & Magnets This concept involves understanding what causes motion.
Understanding Light & Seeing: This concept involves understanding how light and reflection affect sight.
Investigate Sound & Hearing: This concept involves understanding how sound is produced, how it travels and how it is heard.
Understand Electrical Circuits: This concept involves understanding circuits and their role in electrical appliances.
Understand the Earth's Movement in Space: This concept involves understanding what causes seasonal changes, day and night.
Implementation:
- Science is taught in 3 subject areas; Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with the common theme of working scientifically.
- Knowledge is repeated in subsequent Terms as material for Literacy tasks.
- Practical experiments form the basis of all science teaching. Children are encouraged to hypothesise, observe and conclude. Children follow an experimental procedure throughout school, which increases in complexity as they become more skilled.
- Assessment is formative and involves the use of a rage of low stake methods; presentations, discussions, mind mapping, knowledge organisers, observations in practice and start/end of unit quizzes.
Impact:
- Children are able to explain what they have discovered to others through presentations, knowledge organisers, mind maps and quizzes.
- Knowledge is retained - this is clear from revisiting learning throughout the year.
- Children score well in low stakes testing and are observed using key transferrable skills and knowledge in a practical context.
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Autumn 1 |
Autumn 2 |
Spring 1 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 1 |
Summer 2 |
Year 1 |
Plants Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees |
Animal/Habitats explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different |
Animals including humans. notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene |
Science Week asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways observing closely, using simple equipment performing simple tests identifying and classifying using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions gathering and recording data to help in answering questions |
Uses of everyday materials identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses |
Uses of everyday materials find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching |
Year 2 |
Plants identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees |
Animal/Habitats explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different |
Animals including humans. notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene |
Science Week asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways observing closely, using simple equipment performing simple tests identifying and classifying using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions gathering and recording data to help in answering questions |
Uses of everyday materials identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses |
Uses of everyday materials find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching |
Plants Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal. |
Scientists and Inventors |
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Year 3 |
Light Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light Notice that light is reflected from surfaces Recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes Recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object Find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change. |
Animals and Human Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat. Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. |
Rocks (link to fossils) Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter. |
Forces and Magnets Compare how things move on different surfaces. Notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance. Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others. Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials. Describe magnets as having two poles. Predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing. |
Plants Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal. |
Scientists and Inventors |
Year 4 |
Electricity Identify common appliances that run on electricity. Construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. Identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit Recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors. |
States of Matter Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases Observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C) Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature. |
Sound Identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear Find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it Recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases. |
All Living Things Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things. |
Animals including humans Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans Identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey. |
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Year 5 |
Forces Explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object Identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces Recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. |
Space Describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system Describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies Use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky. |
Great British Scientists |
Properties & Change of Materials Compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets Know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution Use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating Give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic Demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible change Explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda. |
Living things and their habitats Describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals. |
Animals inc. human Describe the changes as humans develop to old age. |
Year 6 |
Electricity Associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and Voltage of cells used in the circuit Compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the Brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches Use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram. |
Inheritance and Adaptation Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents. Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution. |
Animals including humans (circulatory, diet and exercise) Identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood. Recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function Describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans. |
Light Recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye Explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them. |
Investigations/Science Week Planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary Taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate Recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs. Using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests Reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations. Identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments. |
Living things and their habitat Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics. |
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