Science stimulates and excites children’s curiosity about the world around them. It also satisfies this curiosity with knowledge. Because science links practical experience with ideas, it can engage learners at many levels.
The scientific method is an internationally accepted means of developing and evaluating ideas through experiment and evidence. As such it develops children’s critical and creative abilities and promotes logical thought and clear communication. Through the study of science, children develop an understanding of the impact of scientific and technological discoveries on their own lives, the direction of society and the future of the world.
(Adapted from the National Curriculum programme of study)
Science at Key Stage 1
Children observe, explore and ask questions about living things, materials and forces. They work together to collect evidence and information from simple reference sources and use these to help them answer questions linked to simple scientific ideas. They evaluate evidence and start to understand the concept of a ‘fair’ test. Children share their ideas using scientific language, drawings and simple charts and tables.
Science at Key Stage 2
Children build on their knowledge of living things, materials and processes. They begin to make links between ideas and to explain things using simple models and theories. Children begin to think about the positive and negative impacts of scientific developments on the environment and human societies. They are able to design and carry out fair experiments, and to communicate the results of these using a range of scientific language and conventional charts, graphs and diagrams.