Skip to content ↓

Science

Science at Seaton is about developing our children’s ideas and ways of working that enable them to make sense of the world in which they live through investigation, as well as using and applying process skills. We encourage the development of positive attitudes to science and we build on our children’s natural curiosity. We want our children to understand that science is a body of knowledge built up through the experimental testing of ideas; a practical way of finding reliable answers to questions that we may ask about the world around us. We aim to provide our children with an enjoyable experience of science, so that they will develop a deep and lasting interest and be motivated to study science further. Our lessons are practical and encourage independence. Our aims for the teaching of science include the following: 

  • Preparing our children for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world. 
  • Helping our children acquire a growing understanding of scientific ideas. 
  • Enabling our children to behave as scientists in developing and extending their understanding of the world.
  • Developing our children’s understanding of the international and collaborative nature of science.
  • Fostering concern about, and active care for, our environment both locally and globally.
  • Questioning and discussing science based issues that may affect their lives and their future.   

Our principles for teaching science at Seaton are as follows: 

  • Our lessons are planned to engage and drive our children’s thirst for learning forward.  
  • Our lessons are practical and allow children to enquiry using hands-on activities that can be linked to ‘real life.’ 
  • Our children are confident in asking and raising their own questions for an enquiry, using their subject knowledge. 
  • Our children are confident in using scientific vocabulary to explore, reason and challenge their own and each other’s thoughts and choices. 
  • Our children’s scientific misconceptions are surfaced and addressed 
  • We want our children to be able to transfer their vocabulary and knowledge from our science lessons, across all subjects and into their daily lives. 

Science Curriculum Implementation

  • Science is taught as a discrete, timetabled, weekly subject.    
  • Science should receive a minimum of 1.5 hours per week, with additional, ample time given for extended investigations to take place.  
  • An emphasis is put on questioning, experimentations and hands on learning, allowing children to explore all given topics.  
  • Each unit should begin with an opportunity for children to discuss what they already (think) they know about a given topic and what questions they would like to ask. Teachers then use this information to identify and address any misconceptions that the children have.  
  • The PLAN progression in knowledge and working scientifically progression documents support teachers with planning.  

Each science unit of work will provide opportunities for :  

  • Teachers to explicitly teach the identified scientific tier 2 & 3 vocabulary for each unit and ensure that the children use the vocabulary in context when speaking and writing. Review vocabulary at the start of each lesson to help internalise. (See vocabulary vault document)  
  • Explicit teaching of the scientific knowledge (using Rosenshine’s principles of instruction)  that the children require to access the curriculum content in order to work scientifically. 
  • Children to enquire scientifically within the context of the knowledge & understanding objectives for each topic. (See scientific enquiry skills progression ladders within this document. Each unit should have a TAPS working scientifically assessment completed ensuring broad coverage of all skills over a year)  
  • Children to answer ‘key questions’ that are derived from the national curriculum expectations as well as raise their own scientific questions and engage in the decision making process about the key questions they choose to investigate. Children should become increasingly independent in suggesting answers and generating further questions 
  • Children to plan and carryout experiments and investigations, choosing suitable equipment and methods of recording and displaying data  
  • Children to sort, order, classify, group, compare & contrast information/data  
  • Scientific content to be accessed through drama/educational visit/maps and images/fieldwork/engaging with visitors to the school and for children to reflect upon or respond to these practical experiences in order to capture key learning outcomes  
  • Children to ‘read to learn’ and research key concepts using high quality non fiction texts and the internet 
  • Teachers and children to revisit and address misconceptions identified through AFL   
  • Use knowledge organisers and mini quizzes throughout each unit to help transfer new information into the long term memory 
  • Research and explore famous scientists, their discoveries and feats of human discovery linked to topics being studied 
  • Independent Assessment Task: Communicate the learning outcomes from a topic using key scientific vocabulary in context. Apply writing skills in the context of geography i.e. recounts, diary accounts, letters, newspaper articles, descriptions etc   
Cookie Policy