Science

How is Science taught and what does it look like at Mayfield? (Implementation)

At Mayfield Primary School, we recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of our daily lives. Through a broad, balanced and progressive Science curriculum, our children’s curiosities are stimulated, questions are asked and answered, and they are able to lead their own investigations based on their own enquiries. Children develop their scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. In order to ensure the success of this we:

• Develop children’s ‘working scientifically’ skills including pattern seeking, observation over time, simple, comparative fair testing, research and identifying and classifying through frequent, hands-on investigations.
• Use a range of scientific equipment and apparatus from measuring cylinders, pipettes, magnets and electrical circuits to planting and growing materials. We want children to explore scientific concepts through first-hand, practical experiences.
• Place a great emphasis on the importance of key vocabulary and the children’s ability to understand these and use them within scientific concepts. Previously taught vocabulary is recapped and given meaning and purpose whilst new vocabulary is embedded to children’s long-term memory.
• Use high level, complex questioning to allow children to reflect on their prior knowledge and then relate this to their current topic as well as assess children’s knowledge and understanding.
• Children also have the opportunity to ask their own questions around their scientific curiosities through a range of topics from everyday materials, plants, animals including humans to electricity, earth and space and evolution and inheritance.
• Adopt a clear structure and sequence of teaching; revisiting previously taught learning, ensuring misconceptions are addressed and understanding is sound, followed by the introduction of new learning through specific learning objectives. New vocabulary is presented with each word given meaning and relevance and new concepts are explored through research, experimentation or investigation. Children are given time to reflect on their findings, ask further questions and draw conclusions.
• Ensure the knowledge that children acquire is applied in real life situations from investigating micro-organisms on food, deciding what the best material is for a bouncy ball to exploring the development of a foetus by looking at the different sizes of fruits.

Collins Snap Science is also being piloted in Year Five as a potential scheme to further our Science curriculum.