Stanley Common

Live, enjoy, believe, aim high

Science teaches an understanding of natural phenomena.  It aims to stimulate a child’s curiosity in finding out why things happen in the way they do.  It teaches methods of enquiry and investigation to stimulate creative thought.  Children learn to ask scientific questions and begin to appreciate the way science will affect their future on a personal, national and global level.

 

“The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he’s one who asks the right questions.” Claude Lévi-Strauss (French Anthropologist)

The aims of our science teaching are to enable children to:

  • Ask and answer scientific questions;
  • Plan and carry out scientific investigations, using equipment, including computers, correctly;
  • Know and understand the life processes of living things;
  • Know and understand the physical processes of materials, electricity, light, sound and natural forces;
  • Know about the nature of the solar system, including the earth;
  • Evaluate evidence and present their conclusions clearly and accurately.

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in science lessons.  Our principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding.  Sometimes we do this through whole class teaching, while at other times we engage the children in an enquiry based research activity.  We encourage the children to ask, as well as answer, scientific questions.  They have the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as statistics, graphs, pictures and photographs.  They also use ICT in science lessons where appropriate.  Wherever possible, we involve the pupils in ‘real’ scientific activities, for example, researching a local environmental problem or carrying out a practical experiment and analysing and presenting results.