Intent
We want our children to ask more, discover more and know more. Science at Methley provides children with opportunities to: ask and answer their own questions; work practically; learn and use new vocabulary; and work outside the classroom.
At the heart of the Science curriculum lies our Methley Magic FIVE: Motivation (ensuring children are engaged and inquisitive about the scientific world that surrounds them); Perseverance (the ability to answer a range of questions through the 5 enquiry types - Research, Pattern Seeking, Observation over time, Identifying, Classifying and Grouping and Comparative and Fair Testing) and the use of the “plan, do, review approach”; Respect (understanding that scientists may have conflicting views and consequently being able to respect the views of others); Communication (ask and answer their own questions, working in groups and sharing their findings in an open ended manor); and Collaboration (through sharing of knowledge, resources and experiences).
Our curriculum is designed to ensure our children are proud of their own heritage and culture; we do this in science through, planning for community links to learn about our local area an involve parents. Our curriculum also has an intercultural and international perspective because we believe we can achieve more by coming together rather than staying apart, we do this in science by learning about variety of scientist and how humans’ behaviour impacts the world (which includes events such as trips, visitors to school, families and professionals that they meet).
Motivation
We want our children to ask more, discover more and know more through practical and thought provoking teaching and learning. We incorporate ‘hook events’ for the start of each unit, which stimulate natural curiosity and enable the children to share their ideas, current knowledge and ask questions.
Perseverance
Children are taught perseverance through the using the plan, do and review cycle. They are given opportunities to ask and answer a range of questions through the 5 enquiry types - Research, Pattern Seeking, Observation over time, Identifying, Classifying and Grouping and Comparative and Fair Testing. Science also gives them the opportunity to solve problems during enquires when unexpected outcomes occur. This is part and parcel of working scientifically.
Success
Children celebrate their success by:
- Realising their own progress in relation to the use of pre and post assessments and events, which celebrate their learning with parents and peers.
- Develop a science curriculum, based on the National Curriculum, which has clearly-sequenced content and stages of progression.
- Children to frequently review prior learning and make connections to support the retention of new knowledge (sticky learning) and the development of understanding and skills.
- Understanding the impact science has had on the past, present and future lives of themselves and the people around them
Implementation
The science curriculum encompasses the main three stands of science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) with working scientifically skills underpinning all science lessons. Knowledge is then organised into block themes where related content is taught under one topic. This encourages children to see connections between previous learning, current learning and future learning, both within science and the wider curriculum. Furthermore, research and record activities are underpinned by one or more of the 5 enquiry types (Research, Pattern Seeking, Observation over time, Identifying, Classifying and Grouping and Comparative and Fair testing) which follows a knowledge, vocabulary, plan, do, review cycle. Through this approach our children learn to become practical problem solvers whilst being responsible, competent, confident and creative scientists. Reading is a key element of science, allowing the children to ‘Read to Learn’ and giving them access to subject specific vocabulary. It also allows the children to explore the why and how of specific scientific thinking, and where appropriate, explore the work of other scientists. Children engage in a wide variety of experiential and exploratory activities including visits out of school and visitors to school. This also includes working collaboratively. Children are encouraged to make connections and record their learning in a variety of ways.
