The Marine
Curriculum

Science

Through Science at Marine Academy Primary, we aim to give all our children an understanding of the world around them from the moment they join us as both an entitlement and a pleasure. When children are studying Science at the primary level, they should be acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes, develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future. This learning is built on each year.

At Marine Academy Primary, our children build their expertise of Science in 2 main forms of knowledge.  The first is ‘substantive knowledge’, which is knowledge of the products of science, such as models, laws and theories. The second category is ‘disciplinary knowledge’, which is knowledge of the practices of science. This teaches pupils how scientific knowledge becomes established and gets revised. Importantly, this involves pupils learning about the many different types of scientific enquiry. It should not be reduced to learning a single scientific method. The knowledge is carefully sequenced to reveal the interplay between substantive and disciplinary knowledge. This ensures that pupils not only know ‘the science’; they also know the evidence for it and can use this knowledge to work scientifically.

SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE ORGANISERS
These Knowledge Organisers are interactive, so you can click on a word, sentence or image and you will be taken to a website which provides more information - parents and carers can support their child in accessing these sites at home:

Year 1 Science Knowledge Organisers
Year 2 Science Knowledge Organisers
Year 3 Science Knowledge Organisers
Year 4 Science Knowledge Organisers
Year 5 Science Knowledge Organisers
Year 6 Science Knowledge Organisers

These topics are revisited and developed throughout their time with us. Please see the examples below to show you how these build up throughout the primary. These words form the beginnings of scientific concepts that will be built on in Year 1 and beyond.

Children begin their formal science education in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This involves learning foundational knowledge primarily through the ‘understanding of the world: the natural world’ area of learning which involves a range of observational, practical explorations. This provides a number of rich contexts for pupils to learn a wide range of vocabulary.

In Year 1 children will begin to ask simple questions and recognise that they can be answered in a variety of ways. To develop our Working Scientifically skills we will observe the world around us closely, using simple equipment where appropriate and will start to think about how we could identify and classify the objects that we come across. Children will also look at: identifying wild plants and describing the basic structure of a variety of common plants, identifying the 5 main groups of organisms, define carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, label the human body, look at everyday materials and observe the changing seasons throughout the year.

In Year 2 children will develop their Working Scientifically skills through using their observation and ideas to suggest answers to questions and gathering and recording data to help in answering questions. Children will also look at: explores the differences between things that are living, dead and those that have never been alive, identify habitats, look at simple food chains, describe what plants need to thrive, find out about the basic needs of animals and compare the suitability of everyday materials.

In Year 3 children pupils will be Working Scientifically through asking relevant questions, setting up simple practical enquiries, making systematic and careful observations, recording findings and using results to draw simple conclusions. Children will also: identify and describe the function of plants, investigate the way in which water is transported in plants, identify the needs and structures of animals, compare and group together rock and soil types, explore light and shadows and look into the effect of forces.

In Year 4 children will look at Working Scientifically through comparative and fair testing, using simple scientific language, drawings and charts, report findings from enquiries, using results to make predictions whilst suggesting improvements and raise further questions and use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions to support their findings. Children will also: recognise living things can be grouped in a variety of ways, use classification keys, describe the functions of the human body, identify food chains, identify how sounds are made and investigate electricity.

In Year 5 children will engage in Work Scientifically through planning different types of scientific enquiries, taking measurements, recording data and results, using test results to make predictions and identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments. Children will also: describe life cycles, group together everyday materials, demonstrate the changes of materials, begin learning about Earth and Space and investigate how to increase the effects of forces.

In Year 6 children will Work Scientifically by recognising and controlling variables, increase the accuracy and precision of taking measurements, record results with increasing complexity, make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests and report and present findings. Children will also: describe how living things are classified, identify human needs and the impact of diet, exercise drugs and lifestyles, recognise that livings things change over time, identify how animals are adapted to suit environments, explore light and investigate electricity with increased complexity.

All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations. 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.

We are developing the following types of scientific enquiry at Marine Academy Primary: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. We aim, through our teaching, for our children to develop an interest and enthusiasm for Science.

Our STEM Leader is a Specialist Leader of Education for Science and regularly leads and plans CPD events for teachers from Marine Academy Primary and other schools within the region too.