Science

Intent

Science teaching at Durrington Infant School aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an consideration of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.

Scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school.  This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory.

All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts taught should be reinforced by focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.

Implementation

At Durrington Infants we use White Rose Science Materials to support delivery of the National Curriculum for Science. Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all pupils are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our science curriculum aims to bridge the link between subjects through by including the study of significant individuals over time whilst highlighting the nature of science knowledge. 

Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following;

• Through our planning, we involve problem solving opportunities that allow children to apply their knowledge, and find out answers for themselves. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. This curiosity is celebrated within the classroom.
• Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often involving high-quality resources such as microscopes, artefacts and ICT to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge.
• Teachers, plan for and then use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess pupils regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all pupils keep up.
• We build upon the knowledge and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, and they become more independent in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence.
• Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. This is developed through the years, in-keeping with the topics.
• Teachers will encourage a high level of orally by ensuring all children are explicitly taught new vocabulary through visual scaffolds, word mats and knowledge organisers and have the opportunity to revisit vocabulary.
• Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills using consistent visuals on display, in order to embed scientific understanding.
• Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning, embedded knowledge through Forest School opportunities and taking part in workshops with experts where possible.
• Children are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities, visits, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class.
• Regular events, such as Science Week and enrichment days allow all pupils to come off-timetable, to provide broader provision and the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. These events often involve families and the wider community.

Impact

Children live in an age of fast-moving science and this area of learning is fundamental to exploring, understanding and influencing the natural and made worlds in which we live. Our aim is to build on the children’s natural enthusiasm and curiosity to find out about phenomena and events in the world around them and make better sense of their environment.  Science is taught both as a discreet subject and as a part of the creative curriculum depending on the focus of the unit.

In the Foundation stage, children begin to develop an understanding of science through the broad area ‘Understanding the World’.  Children explore and find out about the world around them and begin to ask questions about it. As children progress through the school they are given a wide range of scientific experiences as they are introduced to more complex scientific ideas.

Children learn to ask scientific questions and begin to appreciate the way science is an integral part of our everyday modern life and will affect the future and present on a personal, national and global level. The curriculum develops scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through a range of topics from the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

Children work scientifically and develop their understanding of scientific enquiry by establishing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling.  Children apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data.