Thursday, 12 July 2012

Primary Curriculum - Science (5 - 11 years / Grades 1 - 6)




Stage 1

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Try to answer questions by collecting evidence through observation.

Plan investigative work
• Ask questions and contribute to discussions about how to seek answers.
• Make predictions.
• Decide what to do to try to answer a science question.

Obtain and present evidence
• Explore and observe in order to collect evidence (measurements and observations) to answer questions.
• Suggest ideas and follow instructions.
• Record stages in work.

Consider evidence and approach
• Make comparisons.
• Compare what happened with predictions.
• Model and communicate ideas in order to share, explain and develop them.

Biology

Plants
• Know that plants are living things.
• Know that there are living things and things that have never been alive.
• Explore ways that different animals and plants inhabit local environments.
• Name the major parts of a plant, looking at real plants and models.
• Know that plants need light and water to grow.
• Explore how seeds grow into flowering plants.

Humans and animals
• Recognise the similarities and differences between each other.
• Recognise and name the main external parts of the body.
• Know about the need for a healthy diet, including the right types of food and water.
• Explore how senses enable humans and animals to be aware of the world around them.
• Know that humans and animals produce offspring which grow into adults.

Chemistry
Material properties
• Use senses to explore and talk about different materials.
• Identify the characteristics of different materials.
• Recognise and name common materials.
• Sort objects into groups based on the properties of their materials.


Physics
Forces
• Explore, talk about and describe the movement of familiar things.
• Recognise that both pushes and pulls are forces.
• Recognise that when things speed up, slow down or change direction there is a cause.

Sound
• Identify many sources of sound.
• Know that we hear when sound enters our ear.
• Recognise that as sound travels from a source it becomes fainter.



Stage 2

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Collect evidence by making observations when trying to answer a science question.
• Use first hand experience, e.g. observe melting ice.
• Use simple information sources.

Plan investigative work
• Ask questions and suggest ways to answer them.
• Predict what will happen before deciding what to do.
• Recognise that a test or comparison may be unfair.

Obtain and present evidence
• Make suggestions for collecting evidence.
• Talk about risks and how to avoid danger.
• Make and record observations.
• Take simple measurements.
• Use a variety of ways to tell others what happened.

Consider evidence and approach
• Make comparisons.
• Identify simple patterns and associations.
• Talk about predictions (orally and in text), the outcome and why this happened.
• Review and explain what happened.


Biology

Living things in their environment
• Identify similarities and differences between local environments and know about some of the ways in which these affect the animals and plants that are found there.
• Understand ways to care for the environment. Secondary sources can be used.
• Observe and talk about their observation of the weather, recording reports of weather data.

Chemistry

Material properties
• Recognise some types of rocks and the uses of different rocks.
• Know that some materials occur naturally and others are man-made.

Material changes
• Know how the shapes of some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and/or stretching.
• Explore and describe the way some everyday materials change when they are heated or cooled.
• Recognise that some materials can dissolve in water.

Physics

Light and dark
• Identify different light sources including the sun.
• Know that darkness is the absence of light.
• Be able to identify shadows.

Electricity
• Recognise the components of simple circuits involving cells (batteries).
• Know how a switch can be used to break a circuit.

The Earth and beyond
• Explore how the sun appears to move during the day and how shadows change.
• Model how the spin of the Earth leads to day and night, e.g. with different sized balls and a torch



Stage 3

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Collect evidence in a variety of contexts to answer questions or test ideas.

Plan investigative work
• Suggest ideas, make predictions and communicate these.
• With help, think about collecting evidence and planning fair tests.

Obtain and present evidence
• Observe and compare objects, living things and events.
• Measure using simple equipment and record observations in a variety of ways.
• Present results in drawings, bar charts and tables.

Consider evidence and approach
• Draw conclusions from results and begin to use scientific knowledge to suggest explanations.
• Make generalisations and begin to identify simple patterns in results.


Biology

Plants
• Know that plants have roots, leaves, stems and flowers.
• Explain observations that plants need water and light to grow.
• Know that water is taken in through the roots and transported through the stem.
• Know that plants need healthy roots, leaves and stems to grow well.
• Know that plant growth is affected by temperature.

Humans and animals
• Know life processes common to humans and animals include nutrition (water and food), movement, growth and reproduction.
• Describe differences between living and non-living things using knowledge of life processes.
• Explore and research exercise and the adequate, varied diet needed to keep healthy.
• Know that some foods can be damaging to health, e.g. very sweet  and fatty foods.
• Explore human senses and the ways we use them to learn about our world.
• Sort living things into groups, using simple features and describe rationale for groupings.

Chemistry

Material properties
• Know that every material has specific properties, e.g. hard, soft, shiny.
• Sort materials according to their properties.
• Explore how some materials are magnetic but many are not.
• Discuss why materials are chosen for specific purposes on the basis of their properties.


Physics
Forces and motion
• Know that pushes and pulls are examples of forces and that they can be measured with force meters.
• Explore how forces can make objects start or stop moving.
• Explore how forces can change the shape of objects.
• Explore how forces, including friction, can make objects move faster or slower or change direction.


Stage 4

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Collect evidence in a variety of contexts.
• Test an idea or prediction based on scientific knowledge and understanding.

Plan investigative work
• Suggest questions that can be tested and make predictions; communicate these.
• Design a fair test and plan how to collect sufficient evidence.
• Choose apparatus and decide what to measure.

Obtain and present evidence
• Make relevant observations and comparisons in a variety of contexts.
• Measure temperature, time, force and length.
• Begin to think about the need for repeated measurements of, for example, length.
• Present results in drawings, bar charts and tables.

Consider evidence and approach
• Identify simple trends and patterns in results and suggest explanations for some of these.
• Explain what the evidence shows and whether it supports predictions. Communicate this clearly to others.
• Link evidence to scientific knowledge and understanding in some contexts.


Biology
Humans and animals
• Know that humans (and some animals) have bony skeletons inside their bodies.
• Know how skeletons grow as humans grow, support and protect the body.
• Know that animals with skeletons have muscles attached to the bones.
• Know how a muscle has to contract (shorten) to make a bone move and muscles act in pairs.
• Explain the role of drugs as medicines.
Living things in their environment
• Investigate how different animals are found in different habitats and are suited to the environment in which they are found.
• Use simple identification keys.
• Recognise ways that human activity affects the environment e.g. river pollution, recycling waste.


Chemistry
States of matter
• Know that matter can be solid, liquid or gas.
• Investigate how materials change when they are heated and cooled.
• Know that melting is when a solid turns into a liquid and is the reverse of freezing.
• Observe how water turns into steam when it is heated but on cooling the steam turns back into water.


Physics
Sound
• Explore how sounds are made when objects, materials or air vibrate and learn to measure the volume of sound in decibels with a sound level meter.
• Investigate how sound travels through different materials to the ear.
• Investigate how some materials are effective in preventing sound from travelling through them.
• Investigate the way pitch describes how high or low a sound is and that high and low sounds can be loud or soft. Secondary sources can be used.
• Explore how pitch can be changed in musical instruments in a range

Electricity and magnetism
• Construct complete circuits using switch, cell (battery), wire and lamps.
• Explore how an electrical device will not work if there is a break in the circuit.
• Know that electrical current flows and that models can describe this flow, e.g. particles travelling around a circuit.
• Explore the forces between magnets and know that magnets can attract or repel each other.
• Know that magnets attract some metals but not others.



Stage 5

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Know that scientists have combined evidence with creative thinking to suggest new ideas and explanations for phenomena.
• Use observation and measurement to test predictions and make links.

Plan investigative work
• Make predictions of what will happen based on scientific knowledge and understanding, and suggest and communicate how to test these.
• Use knowledge and understanding to plan how to carry out a fair test.
• Collect sufficient evidence to test an idea.
• Identify factors that need to be taken into account in different contexts.

Obtain and present evidence
• Make relevant observations.
• Measure volume, temperature, time, length and force.
• Discuss the need for repeated observations and measurements.
• Present results in bar charts and line graphs.

Consider evidence and approach
• Decide whether results support predictions.
• Begin to evaluate repeated results.
• Recognise and make predictions from patterns in data and suggest explanations using scientific knowledge and understanding.
• Interpret data and think about whether it is sufficient to draw conclusions.


Biology
Plants
• Know that plants need energy from light for growth.
• Know that plants reproduce.
• Observe how seeds can be dispersed in a variety of ways.
• Investigate how seeds need water and warmth for germination, but not light.
• Know that insects pollinate some flowers.
• Observe that plants produce flowers which have male and female organs; seeds are formed when pollen from the male organ fertilizes the ovum (female).
• Recognise that flowering plants have a life cycle including pollination, fertilisation, seed production, seed dispersal and germination.

Chemistry
States of matter
• Know that evaporation occurs when a liquid turns into a gas.
• Know that condensation occurs when a gas turns into a liquid and that it is the reverse of evaporation.
• Know that air contains water vapour and when this meets a cold surface it may condense.
• Know that the boiling point of water is 100°C and the melting point of ice is 0°C.
• Know that when a liquid evaporates from a solution the solid is left behind.

Physics
Light
• Observe that shadows are formed when light travelling from a source is blocked.
• Investigate how the size of a shadow is affected by the position of the object.
• Observe that shadows change in length and position throughout the day.
• Know that light intensity can be measured.
• Explore how opaque materials do not let light through and transparent materials let a lot of light through.
• Know that we see light sources because light from the source enters our eyes.
• Know that beams/rays of light can be reflected by surfaces including mirrors, and when reflected light enters our eyes we see the object.
• Explore why a beam of light changes direction when it is reflected from a surface.

The Earth and beyond
• Explore, through modeling, that the sun does not move; its apparent movement is caused by the Earth spinning on its axis.
• Know that the Earth spins on its axis once in every 24 hours.
• Know that the Earth takes a year to orbit the sun, spinning as it goes.
• Research the lives and discoveries of scientists who explored the solar system and stars.



Stage 6

Scientific enquiry

Ideas and evidence
• Consider how scientists have combined evidence from observation and measurement with creative thinking to suggest new ideas and explanations for phenomena.
• Collect evidence and data to test ideas including predictions.

Plan investigative work
• Discuss how to turn ideas into a form that can be tested.
• Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding.
• Choose what evidence to collect to investigate a question, ensuring that the evidence is sufficient.
• Identify factors that are relevant to a particular situation.
• Choose which equipment to use.

Obtain and present evidence
• Make a variety of relevant observations and measurements using simple apparatus correctly.
• Decide when observations and measurements need to be checked by repeating to give more reliable data.
• Use tables, bar charts and line graphs to present results.

Consider evidence and approach
• Make comparisons.
• Evaluate repeated results.
• Identify patterns in results and results that do not appear to fit the pattern.
• Use results to draw conclusions and to make further predictions.
• Suggest and evaluate explanations for predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding and communicate these clearly to others.
• Say if and how evidence supports any prediction made.

Biology

Humans and animals
• Use scientific names for some major organs of body systems.
• Identify the position of major organs in the body.
• Describe the main functions of the major organs of the body.
• Explain how the functions of the major organs are essential.

Living things in their environment
• Explore how humans have positive and negative effects on the environment, e.g. loss of species, protection of habitats.
• Explore a number of ways of caring for the environment, e.g. recycling, reducing waste, reducing energy consumption, not littering, encouraging others to care for the environment.
• Know how food chains can be used to represent feeding relationships in a habitat and present these in text and diagrams.
• Know that food chains begin with a plant (the producer), which uses energy from the sun.
• Understand the terms producer, consumer, predator and prey.
• Explore and construct food chains in a particular habitat.


Chemistry
Material changes
• Distinguish between reversible and irreversible changes.
• Explore how solids can be mixed and how it is often possible to separate them again.
• Observe, describe, record and begin to explain changes that occur when some solids are added to water.
• Explore how, when solids do not dissolve or react with water, they can be separated by filtering, which is similar to sieving.
• Explore how some solids dissolve in water to form solutions and, although the solid cannot be seen, the substance is still present.

Physics

Forces and motion
• Distinguish between mass measured in kilograms (kg) and weight measured in Newtons, noting that kilograms are used in everyday life.
• Recognise and use units of force, mass and weight and identify the direction in which forces act.
• Understand the notion of energy in movement.
• Recognise friction (including air resistance) as a force which can affect the speed at which objects move and which sometimes stops things moving.

Electricity and magnetism
• Investigate how some materials are better conductors of electricity than others.
• Investigate how some metals are good conductors of electricity while most other materials are not.
• Know why metals are used for cables and wires and why plastics are used to cover wires and as covers for plugs and switches.
• Predict and test the effects of making changes to circuits, including length or thickness of wire and the number and type of components.
• Represent series circuits with drawings and conventional symbols.

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