Science

Intent

At Cosby, our young scientists will acquire life-long enquiry Science skills in order to explore and understand the world they live in, alongside the knowledge of the disciplines of biology, physics and chemistry.

It is our intent to provide a coherent Science curriculum that both prepares children extremely well for future learning and gives them the tools to independently investigate and explore the world further. The Science curriculum encourages the children to be curious about natural phenomena and to be excited by the process of understanding the world around them. We intend our children to remember the concepts they learn. Therefore, the curriculum focuses on the sequential development of essential substantive knowledge underpinning biology, chemistry and physics. Over time, these building blocks of learning are transformed into a deep understanding of the real world.

Procedures of concepts that underpin scientific methods are developed through the systematic focus on disciplinary knowledge. Every unit of work contains opportunities to develop the Working Scientifically skills of asking questions, planning enquiries, observing, measuring, recording, presenting and interpreting results, drawing conclusions, predicting and evaluating. The different approaches to scientific enquiry, such as fair testing, researching and classifying are also systematically developed in the disciplinary knowledge.

Children will be scientifically literate and have a strong understanding of scientific vocabulary in the curriculum. From EYFS to Year 6, our pupils will build up a bank of knowledge by revisiting key areas and building upon previous learning- embedding substantive knowledge into their long-term memory.

Through practical experiences and a broad and interesting curriculum, we endeavour to instil a love of Science within our pupils and encourage them to see themselves as scientists.

Implementation

Science is taught discretely, with a focus on substantive knowledge-rich content and the development of essential disciplinary knowledge.

Substantive knowledge sets out the subject-specific content that is to be learned. Units are separated into the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. This is the knowledge of the products of Science, such as concepts, laws, theories and models. These disciplines are sequenced from EYFS to year 6, allowing children to revisit and build on their learning.

Disciplinary knowledge tells us how we know what we know. It is through disciplinary knowledge that pupils learn the enquiry practices of Science. It gives us an insight into the way scientists think- how they ask questions, plan an enquiry, observe, measure, interpret, conclude, predict and evaluate. Disciplinary knowledge enables children to ‘think like a scientist’.

Teachers will:

• Focus the Science unit on a Big Question.
• Ensure that key scientific concepts are explored and developed using practical and collaborative Science enquiry-based lessons.
• Check prior learning has been retained using assess and review weeks and exit tickets.
• Introduce the learning objective of the lesson, making links to both the wider learning journey and the real world of Science and links to previous learning within that discipline (biology, chemistry and physics).
• Model and develop key concepts to cement substantive and disciplinary knowledge.
• Use concrete and pictorial models and analogies to help pupils develop a deeper understanding of abstract scientific concepts.
• Build in regular checks for understanding during lessons as well as through the unit and the year.
• Explicitly teach scientific vocabulary.
• Include studies of influential scientists.
• Ensure pupils take pride in their written work, continually focusing on the quality of drawn diagrams and labelled work.

Impact

At Cosby Primary School, we envisage that the Science curriculum will impact the pupils in the following ways:

• Children will feel confident in their substantive and disciplinary knowledge and enquiry skills.
• Children will have a strong foundation of scientific knowledge that helps them to understand the world around them.
• Children will be actively curious to learn and will see the relevance of what they are learning to their lives and the real world.
• Children will see possibilities for careers in Science.

Children will engage with the natural environment and want to care for it.