Becoming a Scientist at BFPA

 

Key skill: Working Scientifically

Visual support: Lab coat, badges and sentence stems

Our aim is that children who leave our school in Year 6 will be able:

  • explore and talk about scientific ideas asking their own questions and suggesting their own lines of enquiry
  • recognise how scientific ideas can be used to help understand and predict how the world operates, including how ideas have changed and developed over time
  • use different types of scientific enquiry to find things out and draw conclusions based on their observations and research
  • confidently use every day scientific vocabulary to discuss and share their ideas in a clear way

How our children learn to be an Scientist

Every year, our children complete a unit of work on ‘Working Scientifically’. This work is supported through the use of Skills shown on badges. The skills focused on are questioning, planning, observing, recording, concluding and evaluating

The children do this by initially applying these skills to a Science Topic in The Autumn Term. 

Foundation Stage – 

KS1-  Seasonal changes and Working like a Scientist

Year 3 – Materials (Rocks)

Year 4 – States of Matter (Solids, Liquids and Gases)

Year 5 – Forces

Year 6 – Light 

Once our children have a sense of Working Scientifically they can apply these skills throughout the Science Units in the year. All pupils are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of Science.  The children gain an understanding of how Science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes to then go on to form their own ideas.

Topics studied are:

KS1- Animals including Humans, Plants, Everyday Materials, Seasonal changes, Living things and their Habitats. 

Year 3- Animals including Humans, Plants, Rocks, Light, Forces and Magnets

Year 4- Animals including Humans, Living things and their Habitats, States of Matter, Sound, Electricity

Year 5- Animals including Humans, Living things and their Habitats, Properties and changes of Materials, Earth and Space, Forces.

Year 6- Animals including Humans, Living things and their Habitats, Evolution and Inheritance, Light, Electricity. 

Our children are provided with good quality resources and experiences, including (whenever possible) building a knowledge of how Science is used in the real world through trips, visitors and experiments. The children learn how to present their learning in both written and oral formats, gaining in confidence and skills, to become curious Scientists. 

BRAUNSTONE FRITH PRIMARY ACADEMY SCIENCE PRINCIPLES: