Science

Our Science Curriculum:

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

Sally Ride

Our vision for science:

 We know good science teaching and learning happens when...

• Teachers are confident and enthused about what they are teaching.
• Teachers make links and use of relevant analogies and models that children can relate to. 
• Learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom.
• Children make links to and apply their learning in science, right across the curriculum.
• Children do not want the learning to stop!

The skills of a great science student:

• Discover for themselves through trial and error - taking risks, designing own investigations, answering questions/hypotheses and persevering to solve problems.
• Understand and use the correct scientific vocabulary.
• Communicate effectively to ask questions and formulate explanations.
• Record their learning in a variety of different ways to demonstrate their understanding.
• Work together and support each other - showing effective collaboration.

About science at St Bartholomew's:

The three main aims of the science National Curriculum are for all pupils to:  

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the three specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through participation in 5 different types of scientific enquiries, enquiries that help them to ask and answer questions relating to the world around them.
• Be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the importance, use and implications of science, today and for the future.

Working Scientifically:

Pupils at St. Bartholomew’s are encouraged to develop their scientific skills through the five types of scientific enquiry which include:

1. Observation over time -  The children are encouraged to observe how our Seasons change and affect the daily weather . How all living things grow and change throughout different stages of life including plants, animals and humans. How materials may change state over time when affected by cold, heat, or being mixed with a different material.
2. Pattern seeking – Observing, measuring, collecting and interpreting data from a range of sources. The children are encouraged to collect the evidence they need and look for patterns to help investigate questions such as ‘Do taller people have longer arms?’  ‘Where do plants grow well?’ or ‘Does the size of a planet affect the length of its orbit?’
3. Identifying Classifying and Grouping - Making sense of how the world is organised. All children across the school are given the opportunity to explore, identify and sort not just the youngest children as this is key to developing the key vocabulary for the relevant topic in each year group.
4. Comparative and Fair testing - These are similar types of testing however ‘Fair Tests’ are more scientific and are carried out with our KS2 children. ‘Fair test’ investigations observe and measure the effect changing one variable has on another whilst keeping all other variables the same. During ‘Comparative testing’ the children have less control over the variables e.g. which tissue is best for soaking up water? We can control the amount of water and the size of the tissue but have no control over the thickness or design of the tissue paper.
5. Research using secondary sources – This is when we encourage children to find information to answer questions that are difficult to answer through classroom investigation. This may include them using reference books, photographs, internet searches or interview visitors who have been asked to come into school who have some expertise in a specific subject.

Working scientifically helps our children practise and develop the skills needed to become a good scientist. We encourage the children to explore, question and problem solve in order to develop curiosity and carry out independent investigations to gain a deeper understanding of their world.