Science

What Science looks like at St. Mark's...

We teach an enriched science curriculum that provides opportunities for practical lessons as much as possible with the topic content and believe that this is key.  The children are exposed to a wide variety of topics that support the children’s curiosity for learning.  Our curriculum aims to broaden the children’s scientific view of the world around them, whilst promoting a love for inquiry and wanting to explore new things. Scroll down to see our Science Teddy Award Winner, our whole-school work on Hygiene and our Science Blog, explaining all the things we are learning about!

Lower Key Stage 2 – Years 3-4

The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out. 

Upper Key Stage 2 – Years 5-6

The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.

How our results compare Locally and Nationally

The percentage of children meeting the expected standard in Science:

As a school, we were working below the national and local percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in Science but have improved to working significantly above the national and local percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in Science, which is fantastic!

SEND Provision in Science at St. Mark’s

It is important at St. Mark’s that all children are able to access the Science curriculum in order for their learning and progression in Science to not be capped or limited by their other academic abilities, as well as allowing all children to enjoy and be enthused by Science.

SEND provision at St. Mark’s includes:

• Providing children with key vocabulary cards and picture cards
• Allowing children to vary the way they record their ideas and results in order to overcome literacy barriers, e.g. drawing and taking photographs
• Given proformas to aid presentation
• Allow time for play/self-discovery
• Allow more time for written work
• Use of mixed ability groups for peer learning
• Use of TA support and extra discussion
• Use of lots of practical activities for children to use a variety of learning styles, e.g. kinaesthetic, auditory and visual

Gifted and Talented Provision in Science at St. Mark’s

It is important at St. Mark’s that children are all extended to think ‘outside the box’ and question the world around them. All the children’s curiosity is encouraged and our practical approach to Science allows them to explore that. We aim for the children to be able to independently make links between scientific phenomenon and be able to apply their understanding, knowledge and discoveries to different contexts, situations and make further predictions about other scenarios.

The G&T provision at St. Mark’s includes:

• The use of Mastery questioning and activities to extend in every lesson
• Use of Deeper Learning booklet
• Use of more complex scientific explanation using accurate scientific language
• Open ended questioning, e.g. ‘What would happen if…’
• Peer teaching to allow children to explain their understanding to others
• Allowing children to do their own further research and investigations

Please see below for the Science Curriculum Plan, created by subject lead Miss Jo Richell:

What does "Mastery" in Science actually look like?

When assessing mastery in Science children must be able to apply the 'Working Scientifically' objectives across a range of topics and scenarios within the classroom and be able to draw real life explanation of phenomenon outside the classroom. Mastery goes beyond just 'ticking boxes' and showing a child can answer many questions on a topic correctly. Mastery requires a child to use that knowledge to draw conclusions within other contexts, have an excited and enthusiastic approach to science and be able to design and plan experiments where they can correct errors and make improvements to their design to affect accuracy and reliability.

Top Tips for Parents...

• Encourage your child to question why things occur when, where and how they do, e.g. Why does it get cold in winter? Why does an egg become hard when you heat it?
• Encourage your child to make predictions about what would happen next or in different circumstances using their prior knowledge, e.g. If the plug didn't have a resistor, what would happen? If we made a surface more slippy, what would happen to vehicles travelling along it?
• Try to use the correct scientific words/names for things instead of nicknames or colloquial terms, e.g. Stomach rather than tummy.
• Take note of the science topics your child will be learning about this year and encourage conversation about those things at home and when you're out and about.
• Use the given websites to help your child with their homework if they're finding it tricky as not all websites have correct information or information appropriate for primary children

Wibbly Wobbly Web Links

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/science/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/terrificscientific

Science Teddy Award!

This week (and last week!), Professor Einstein was awarded to Jayden in Class 4! Well done to all the other nominees too! 

Hygiene

As a school, we have had a big push on hygiene and, in particular, hand-washing.

The children have used Glow Gel and UV torches to show how germs can spread even when your hands and possessions look clean!

Class 5 took their investigations into hygiene and germs further. They had 3 pieces of bread from the same loaf. The first slice was put into the sealed bag with gloves on. The second slice was placed into the sealed bag with freshly washed hands. The third slice was passed around the room for all the children to touch before anyone had washed their hands.

The children wrote predictions on what they think will happen to the bread over time (see photos).

Science Blog!

April 2019

All the butterflies in class 5 have emerged! We set them free this afternoon into the trees. Special thanks to Mrs Edmondson who very much helped this release!

March 2019

A very exciting arrival has occurred in Class 5! Our caterpillars have arrived! We have voted and named them, Sponge, Bob, Henry, Billy and Jeffery.

We are looking forward to watching them grow and change!

February 2019

We did a really fun experiment in Class 5 today - making full scientific use of the snow! We tested how long snowballs take to melt in cold, warm and hot water.

January 2019

Class 4 did some really exciting experiments showing that sound travels in vibrations. They saw the water jump when the tuning fork touch it, looked at different instruments and they made excellent cup telephones!

October 2018

Class 5 and 6 did a very exciting friction investigation today with Newton Meters!

June 2018

Today, the entire school took part in a practical Science afternoon where we all made rocket mice! The children were encouraged to come up with a way of recording their data, make improvements to their experiments and test out different variables. We had such fun!

Today has been extremely exciting for Class 4! They have had some really enthusiastic visitors, Mr Paul Treble and his friends, who came to make Fan Boats with them! First, they studied floating and sinking, they then designed their boats, made them and tested them!

Breeze has done some more excellent Science homework. She has tested out some liquids and the effects they have on our teeth by putting boiled eggs in them. The egg shells have eroded away and are now going clear!

May 2018

Evie in year 6 uses Synesthesia  to help her with her maths and dancing. This is where she associates different number and dance moves with different colours. Therefore, to remember number facts and dance routines, Evie remembers sequences of colours - SUPER CLEVER!

The scientific definition for Synesthesia is: Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, colour or flavour.

Evie has used this talent to help her succeed in her recent SATs exams as well as her fantastic achievements at the Cheltenham Dance Festival. Well done Evie!

To learn more about Synesthesia, here is a link to a website with lots of information: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html

Class 5 have had the best day ever today!

Paul Treble came into school again to do workshops on Gears, Pulleys and Levers.

April 2018

Over the Easter holidays, the butterflies were released! Truely beautiful!

March 2018

Breeze has designed and made a brilliant model of Newton's Cradle for her Science homework. Amazing Breeze, well done!

Class 5's caterpillars have arrived! We hope to watch them over the next few weeks to observe their lifecycle as they transform into chrysalis and then butterflies!

At the moment they are tiny and have all the food and moisture they need for now in their pot.

One of the caterpillars has broken through their cocoon and emerged as a butterfly! Can you see the broken cocoon shell and the caterpillar extending its tongue?

As the day goes on, the butterfly is developing more and more colour.

February 2018

There is a Science show at the Bacon Theatre this month if anyone is interested 

January 2018

Today, Amelia brought in so Bicarbonate of Soda, White Vinegar and water. She mixed the Bicarbonate of Soda in with the water and then added a dash of Vinegar. We were all astounded by the chemical reaction which took place between the acid and the alkaline. Try it out home and see what happens!

Elisabeth in Class 7 did some excellent homework on materials and their properties by making her own owl model and explaining why she used the materials she did!

November 2017

Mrs Watson's class have been learning about changing state and how solids can turn to liquids then gases and vise versa. Today, they sorted different solids, liquids and gases:

October 2017

Class 1 had and exciting lesson organising rocks! They used the look and feel of the rock to sort them into Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic types.

Class 3 have been exploring electricity. Today we thought of reasons that switches are useful and then built our own.
We created various pull, slide, twist and push switches and all groups managed to make the circuit light up, and then break the circuit using just a switch!

September 2017

Class 5 experimented with dropping eggs! in groups, they theorised and made the best protection for a hard boiled egg, which was being dropped out of a first floor window, using tissue, plastic bags, straws, string and celotape.

They had to increase the air resistance acting on the egg by building a parachute, which would decrease the amount the forces (Gravity and air resistance) were unbalanced by, resulting in the egg falling slower.

They also added a lot of padding around the eggs, which acted as a shock absorber.

Starting Year 4 with a Bang!
 

During the first week, Miss Warry decided to put the scientists in Class 3 to the test! The children were rather surprised when old film canisters started exploding around the classroom! They had a go at explaining why they thought the explosion was taking place and then were given the challenge of making the biggest explosion.

The children had to come up with a fair experiment to determine what factors affected the explosiveness of the canister. We had all sorts of ideas - once we had come up with a method and predicted our results, each group went outside to carry out the experiment. The faces were a picture when the canisters started exploding and some groups managed to make the canister go high enough to get stuck in a nearby tree!

Once we had finished, we went back inside to talk about the biggest bangs! We decided that there was an optimum amount of water and alka seltzer to be used to create the biggest amount of pressure on the lid of the canister, before popping the canisters to eternity and beyond!

Well…that was year 4 off to a banging start!