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Science has been designated one of the three "core" subjects in the National Curriculum (along with English and Maths) because it's considered to be one of the subjects that underpins all learning. Pupils are therefore tested on how they're doing in science in the SATs and their performance is listed in the Schools League Tables.
WHY SHOULD KIDS LEARN SCIENCE?There are many reasons why science is thought to be so important in a child's learning. For example:
THE FOUR SUBJECT AREASThroughout the National Curriculum, science is divided up into four categories…
Follow the links to find out more about what each subject area covers, and click through to the Key Stage to see what your little darling is being taught in each area right now. You may not have realised how much you could be helping your child learn, not to mention the fun you could be having at the same time. (Don’t worry if science wasn’t your thing at school, you’ll be fine!) Sc1: Scientific EnquiryThis section of the curriculum is all about learning to carry out experiments and investigations into living things, materials and phenomena. It’s about asking questions and using creative thought, careful planning and control of investigations to achieve meaningful results. It also involves meticulous measuring and recording, and the interpretation of the results – does the evidence really answer the question the pupil meant to ask?! As the children advance through the school, these skills become more sophisticated. And right through the curriculum, investigative processes are interwined with the work being done in the other three categories of study. Click on the links to find out more about what’s taught in Sc1 at Keystages 1, 2, 3 and 4 Sc2: Life Processes and Living Things
First of all pupils are taught to identify common animals and plants and to identify some of their main features (eg. tails, leaves etc). They then go on to learn about the things animals and plants need to survive in their environments and about life processes such as feeding, sensing, and breathing (or ‘respiration’ as it’s called). Throughout their schooling they’re taught about human health and physiology and in Key Stage 2 two important subjects are introduced – sex education and drug abuse. Later on, they’ll learn about the biology of cells and their many different functions, about biochemical processes such as photosynthesis, and about how and why scientists classify living organisms into families and species. By the end of Key Stage 3 children should also understand how ecosystems function and about the need for protection of the Earth’s environment. Click on the links to find out more about what’s taught in Sc2 at Keystages 1, 2, 3 and 4 Sc3: Materials and their PropertiesAs the title suggests this section is all about introducing pupils to materials, their characteristics and to all sorts of processes that can change them. By ‘materials’, they mean substances such as metals, plastics, water or sand and by ‘processes’, they mean events such as heating, cooling, freezing, dissolving or squashing. In the early years teachers will focus largely on the type of everyday substances you’d have around in your home looking at their properties and what they’re used for. Later on pupils learn about the ‘states of matter’ ie solids, liquids and gases, and about more complex processes such as dissolving, mixing and separating substances and about evaporation and condensation, insulation and conduction. Pupils go on to learn about the particle theory of matter and about more complex chemical reactions and their occurrence in the natural world as well as in the laboratory – and how these are put to use in our man-made world (think of superglue, cooking food or moodstones that change colour with temperature…) Click on the links to find out more about what’s taught in Sc3 at Keystages 1, 2, 3 and 4 Sc4: Physical ProcessThis part of the curriculum covers the area of science you probably remember as ‘physics’ when you were at school. The main topics throughout are electricity, forces, and light & sound. As well as being taught how these physical forces work, pupils are shown how these concepts relate to everyday life, and how they have been put to use in the creation of objects such as the lightbulb, levers and pulleys, and musical instruments. As the pupils progress through school they will investigate and learn about these concepts in more and more detail. For example, in Key Stage 1, pupils are taught to recognise devices that run on electricity, and how a switch operates to turn them on and off. Several years later, they will not only know how to construct an electrical circuit for themselves, but they will know about electromagnetism and about renewable and non-renewable global energy resources. Click on the links to find out more about what’s taught in Sc4 at Keystages 1, 2, 3 and 4
PAGE LINKSThe National Curriculum
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This section of school science may be more familiar to you by its old name “biology”. In it, children are taught about the living world around them; about plants and animals, including humans, and their environments.