Child Led Science at Iceni Academy

Science is all around us! At Iceni Academy we believe that scientific investigation is one of the most powerful ways to learn; developing curiosity and perseverance as well as challenging what we know about the world. As a school, we aim to develop children’s curiosity, interest and concern with the outside world. We endeavour to achieve this through our engaging child-led practical approach to teaching science which enables children to have a greater understanding of our world through practical, enriching activities and observations.

 

Aims

This year at Iceni Academy, improving children’s scientific skills, as well as their enjoyment of science, has been a major focus. We believe that Science skills are a key factor in enabling children to become confident, creative and independent learners and thinkers. It also enables children to prepare for the experiences they will face in the world outside of education and learning. Through science, we believe that children should develop an excitement and curiosity about the world around them and have the opportunity to raise their own questions. To achieve this, at the beginning of each topic we provide children with the opportunity to raise their own questions to plan their own investigations and pursue their own lines of enquiry. Through ensuring children are active within planning processes, we also aim to identify their prior knowledge and curiosity to meet the needs of each child. In turn, this will enable them to reach their full potential and to engender a sense of awe and wonder with Science and develop their curiosity.

 

Working Scientifically

From a young age, the children will gradually acquire the skills of working scientifically through: questioning, predicting, observing, comparing, classifying, estimating, measuring, exploring, testing communicating results and interrupting patterns. The types of scientific enquiry will include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing. Through our child-led practical approach to teaching science, it is our aim that children will develop a set of attitudes which will promote scientific thinking, including open-ended questioning, perseverance, objectivity and recognition of the importance of teamwork.

 

It is our aim at Iceni Academy that by the end of Key Stage 2 the children will come to understand the nature of ‘scientific method’ involving: meticulous observation, the making and testing of hypotheses, the design of fair experiments, the drawing of meaningful conclusions through critical reasoning and the evaluating of evidence. It is our hope that they will become effective communicators of scientific ideas, facts and data and begin to build up a body of scientific knowledge and understanding, which will act as a foundation for future enquiry.

 

Cross curricular Science

In line with our curriculum, Science is linked with our connected curriculum approach. Science is carried out as part of an integrated unit where children will be applying a range of knowledge and skills from different subject areas to pursue a key line of enquiry. This will help to make the children’s science more meaningful and will therefore enhance their learning. At Iceni we aim to have strong cross-curricular links, especially with ICT, Maths and English. Mathematical skills very often link naturally, in terms of measurement and recording. Much of the work will be tackled collaboratively and the subsequent interactions will enhance language skills. English and writing skills will complement the Science curriculum as children report their learning to others in a variety of forms, either in a written form or orally. We also aim for the children to be familiar with, and use, technical terminology accurately. Whenever possible, Science lessons are delivered beyond the classroom. Our aim is to nurture creativity and imagination and develop interest in the environment and wider world.