Science
At Merstham Primary School, we believe that science education is vital in developing children’s understanding of the world and preparing them for their future. Because of this Science pervades our GLF Curriculum and is the golden thread that runs through every term. When working towards our end products, the children, individually or as a whole class, will be working scientifically. That is to say, they will be making observations, generalisations, researching, planning, testing and evaluating.
Within our Science lessons children are given the opportunity to learn through hands-on experiences and discovery, making it an ideal way to understand the world around them. We encourage children to become independent and collaborative scientific thinkers and investigators through their participation in engaging practical investigations. By designing their own experiments, children are encouraged to be creative and make learning more relevant to themselves. They are given opportunities to observe, explore, and ask questions about living things, materials, and physical processes. They evaluate evidence and consider the fairness of tests or comparisons. They share and communicate their ideas through scientific language, drawings, charts, and tables.
Science knowledge and skills are built on and deepened throughout Early Years and the Key Stages through a cohesive and connective curriculum. Enquiry skills and approaches are explicitly taught to the children to help them question the world around them and how to find the answers to these questions.
How can I support my child in Science?
Be Interested - Find out about their Science topics: find relevant books in the library or bookshop, do some research, brush up your own knowledge about the topic! Then you can have interesting conversations where you are both learning at the same time.
Take a Trip - Why not take a trip to a science museum, a zoo or an aquarium? These don’t necessarily need to be completely related to what they are learning about at school. Any visit can help their curiosity and engagement with science generally. There are increasingly more virtual 'visits' available online also, if you can't manage a trip in person.
Make it Personal - Find out about famous scientist role models and research unique and exciting achievements and inventions, up to and including the present day. Who knows, you may have the next Stephen Hawking or Marie Curie at home!
Get Hands-On - Look up fun, practical science experiments you can do at home with everyday objects.
For example:
Ask ‘What happens when you mix food colouring in milk?’ Then add washing up liquid and watch what happens.
Why not try making your own mini exploding volcano? Just add bicarbonate of soda, food colouring, washing up liquid and vinegar. Then stand back and watch the eruption!
Cooking is also a great opportunity to mix ingredients, add heat and examine changing states.
Try exploring changing states with ice and water to begin to see those changes that can be reversed and those that can’t.
A real favourite is to create ‘gloop’ — use water and cornflour (add food colouring too if needed) to explore solids and liquids. Just be prepared to get messy!
Of course, there are also some wonderful science kits available to buy to push your scientists further – making crystals, rockets and even bouncy balls.
Useful Weblinks
The Science Museum for information, games etc.
The Children’s University of Manchester Science pages
The Royal Institute’s annual Christmas lectures make science real for children and are available online
