Science stimulates and excites pupil’s curiosity about natural phenomena and events in the world around them. It also satisfies their curiosity with knowledge. Since science links direct practical experience with ideas, it can engage learners at many levels. Scientific method is about developing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling. Through Science, pupils understand how major scientific ideas contribute toward technological change – impacting on industry, medicine, business and improving quality of life. Children learn to question and discuss science based issues that may affect their own lives, the directions of society and the future of the world.
Aims and objectives
Science at Girton Glebe aims to teach children the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to question and understand concepts and phenomena that occur in the world around them and equips them with the motivation to seek explanations for these.
Children learn the skills required for scientific enquiry and they will begin to appreciate the way science will affect their future on a personal, national and global level.
The aims of science are to enable children to:
- Ask and answer scientific questions
- Plan and carry out fair scientific investigations, using a range of equipment.
- Know and understand the life processes of living things
- Know and understand the physical processes of materials, electricity, light, sound and natural forces
- Know about materials and their properties
- Evaluate evidence and present their conclusions clearly and accurately, making improvements where necessary.
Science in EYFS
Play underpins the delivery of all the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS). In playing, children behave in different ways: sometimes within their play, they may describe and discuss what they are doing and sometimes they may be more reflective and quiet as they play. Within a secure and challenging environment with effective support, children can explore, develop and experiment as they play to help them make sense of the world. The EYFS strand ‘Understanding the World’ leads directly to scientific elements of the curriculum and leads to more formalised Science learning in KS1 and then KS2.
Science in KS1 and KS2
The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in science lessons. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. We do this through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual / group activities. Teachers encourage the children to ask as well as answer scientific questions. The children have the opportunity to use a variety of secondary sources of information, where it will enhance learning as well as gaining first hand experiences, for example, the use of books, photographs, graphs, diagrams, models and ICT.
In KS1 the children are taught in their classroom by Mrs Tate and in KS2 they are taught in the school Science Room by Mrs Storer. This gives them the opportunity to leave their usual classroom and spend time in a specialised environment.
We have planned the topics in science so that they build upon prior learning, ensuring that there are opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit. We also build progression into the science scheme of work, so that the children are increasingly challenged as they progress through the school. Through close links with local schools, enrichment opportunities are offered to children in Year 5.
