Science is a means of discovering and understanding the world around us. Its large body of knowledge enables pupils to greater understand the products and practices of science (Drive et al. 1999). By learning about the products of science, such as forces and particles, pupils are able to explain the material world and ‘develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena’ (Department for Education, 2013). We recognise the importance of science as a core subject within our curriculum, and as such teach it regularly to give pupils opportunities to revisit, practise and consolidate their learning before moving on to new content.
Our science curriculum begins in the Early Years, whereby children learn foundational knowledge which links to both the Early Learning Goals and provides the foundation for new learning as pupils move into Key Stage 1.
The curriculum codifies substantive knowledge – ‘know that’ - and procedural ‘know how to’, and is carefully sequenced to enable pupils to learn key knowledge around scientific concepts before applying this knowledge through opportunities for investigation. Combining these two types of knowledge allows pupils to access and appreciate the disciplinary knowledge of science, and through opportunity for scientific enquiries pupils learn how scientific knowledge becomes established through enquiry. We want pupils to appreciate that scientific knowledge is not fixed, and that it is changed when new evidence is discovered.
The vocabulary associated with core scientific concepts is explicitly taught to pupils, and we ensure that definitions are consistent in order to avoid misconceptions as pupil’s progress from one year to another. Additionally, pupils’ knowledge of the development of scientific understanding comes from their learning about influential scientists, both historical and modern day, and from a diverse range of backgrounds, who have developed our understanding of key concepts, such as electricity, or evolution.
The structure of the curriculum enables pupils to build their schema in the specific strands within science, as set out in the National Curriculum (Animals inc Humans, Electricity, Evolution, Forces and Magnets, Light, Materials and Changes of State, Rocks, Sound and Space). This is achieved through the codification of knowledge that is broken down into granular steps to be delivered in a specific order for optimal retention and coherence, making learning science easier. In addition to this, links between these strands, and other curriculum subjects such as Maths, Geography, Design and Technology, PE and PSHE are made explicit to support the understanding of key concepts, for example, understanding the force of gravity and its effect on Earth before learning about how it affects the planets within the solar system, and their movements.