Science

Fun facts about me:

One of my favourite things to do is play my guitar, I don’t play in a band or anything but play to relax. I enjoy reading, my favourite author is Stephen King. I have three dogs, Dylan, Maddie and Banksy and enjoy taking them for walks in the woods. My favourite subject to teach is of course Science, but I also really enjoy teaching English and Art, these were my favourite subjects when I was at school.

Subject vision:

Science at Cooper and Jordan will always be interesting, engaging and rich in the development of scientific knowledge. The core values for the teaching and learning of science are to engage all of our pupils and promote a natural wonder for the world around them. We feel children should be excited and enthusiastic about science, as they are taught to know more and remember more. Our aim for the teaching and learning of science is for every child to access a varied curriculum. The curriculum should stimulate and promote wider learning, encouraging children to ask their own ‘what if…’ questions. Our children should feel challenged and proud of their learning in this subject - regardless of their initial level of confidence and ability. Children that require extra support will access lesson materials as a result of the teacher making reasonable adjustments and adapting their teaching where appropriate. To achieve this lessons are thoughtfully planned and delivered, so that new material is delivered in a way that is clear, interesting and useful. New concepts and ideas will be delivered and explained with links made to prior learning, building on the children’s prior learning. Formative assessment is used throughout the year to check that children retain knowledge and that they can retrieve previously taught content from their long-term memory. Furthermore, children will have frequent opportunities to assess their own learning and provide pupil voice feedback on the science topic covered.

Curriculum:

The science curriculum follows the National Curriculum Programs of Study for Science in Key Stage 1 and 2. The National Curriculum provides a clear and progressive program of key skills and understanding of age appropriate biology, physics and chemistry concepts. These units are adapted to accurately match the needs of our pupils.

Curriculum Aims

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future 

Working Scientifically

A fundamental aspect of science teaching and learning will be the application of scientific processes when finding answers to key questions related to a specific unit of work. These types of scientific enquiry should include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. Pupils should seek answers to questions through collecting, analysing and presenting data.

Key Stage 1

The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information.

Key Stage 2:

Year 3 and 4

The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

Year 5 and 6

The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including 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 of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.

Assessment:

Regular formative assessments are made throughout units of work. This will include marking of pupils work and ‘next step’ questions/tasks set and class discussion that also provides relevant assessment information. Teachers make adjustments to lesson content according to the outcome of this assessment. Pupils self-assess their work during a topic and record their own assessment of learning. Teachers will also assess children following each topic.

Trips and enrichment:

Enrichment of science is fulfilled via our annual themed science week activities and associated competitions and school assemblies. The Natural History Lecture service provides age appropriate content each year in the form of The Animal person visits. Additionally, Year 5 and Year 6 visit Aldridge School to participate in a range of curriculum based workshops.

Pupil Voice: 

Kai said "I like when we learn about different topics  because I like brainy stuff."

Eva said "The experiments we do are really exciting and I love that we carry them out by ourselves."

Noah said  "I like that we can go out and explore the world, I liked collecting leaves to find out more about living things around our school."

Cason said "We get to do lots of different activities  that help us learn more about the topic which is really interesting."

Poppy said "Experimenting is great fun especially when we get to choose how to do it and create our own ideas."

Grace said "I like that the experiments we do are active and fun, it doesn’t feel like we are learning because we are having fun."