The Programme of Study
for Science Key Stage 2 (2002)
Introduction
During key stage 2 pupils
learn about a wider range of living things, materials and phenomena. They begin
to make links between ideas and to explain things using simple models and
theories. They apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas to
familiar phenomena, everyday things and their personal health. They begin to
think about the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological
developments on the environment and in other contexts. They carry out more
systematic investigations, working on their own and with others. They use a
range of reference sources in their work. They talk about their work and its
significance, and communicate ideas using a wide range of scientific language,
conventional diagrams, charts and graphs.
The
Exploratorium Science Snackbook.
Within the Exploratorium, the Exploratorium Teacher Institute offers
programs specifically for teachers. Central to these programs are individual
and group explorations of the museum's interactive exhibits. Click
here for some sample 'snacks'.
The
Science Club - A
superb resource for teachers, parents and children alike.
Science
Explorer This
site provides simple on-screen instructions for straightforward science
experiments to try at school.
Science
in Focus - Channel 4
Welcome to the Science In Focus Web Site! This site has been set up to
support the Science In Focus television series currently running on Channel
4 in the UK
Unique
Water Company - site
showing how a water company works with links to areas where the company is
currently doing research
Web
of Life - Web Of
Life is a unique new kind of exhibit at London Zoo, combining the best of
museum-style information with live animals, telling the fascinating story of
the conservation of biological diversity.
that science is about
thinking creatively to try to explain how living and non-living things work,
and to establish links between causes and effects [for example, Jenner's
vaccination work]
that it is important to
test ideas using evidence from observation and measurement.
Investigative skills
Pupils should be taught to:
Planning
ask questions that can be
investigated scientifically and decide how to find answers
consider what sources of
information, including first-hand experience and a range of other sources,
they will use to answer questions
think about what might
happen or try things out when deciding what to do, what kind of evidence to
collect, and what equipment and materials to use
make a fair test or
comparison by changing one factor and observing or measuring the effect
while keeping other factors the same
Obtaining and
presenting evidence
use simple equipment and
materials appropriately and take action to control risks
make systematic
observations and measurements, including the use of ICT for datalogging
check observations and
measurements by repeating them where appropriate
use a wide range of
methods, including diagrams, drawings, tables, bar charts, line graphs and
ICT, to communicate data in an appropriate and systematic manner
Considering evidence
and evaluating
make comparisons and
identify simple patterns or associations in their own observations and
measurements or other data
use observations, measurements or
other data to draw conclusions
decide whether these conclusions
agree with any prediction made and/or whether they enable further
predictions to be made
use their scientific knowledge and
understanding to explain observations, measurements or other data or
conclusions
review their work and the work of
others and describe its significance and limitations.
Life Processes and Living
Things (Sc2)
Life processes
Pupils should be taught:
that the life processes
common to humans and other animals include nutrition, movement, growth and
reproduction
that the life processes common to
plants include growth, nutrition and reproduction
to make links between life processes
in familiar animals and plants and the environments in which they are found.
Some useful links for Life Processes
Africam
This camera (Djuma-Cam) is permanently located at a waterhole not far from
the Djuma Bush Lodge. The camera is in a weather proof housing approximately
12 feet up a Buffalo Thorn Tree. At night staff at the lodge turn on a
floodlight, which does not bother the animals.
Animal
Diversity Web The Animal
Diversity Web is a collection of pictures and information about animals.
Accounts of individual species include information on distributions, natural
history, conservation, and economic importance, along with pictures and
sounds if available.
Butterfly
- zoom simple information
to enable pupils to study butterflies
Canterbury
Environmental Education Centre
- located in a nature reserve on the outskirts of Canterbury, Kent, UK. The
centre provides facilities for research and teaching and supports primary,
secondary and special schools throughout Kent. Produced by the National grid
for Learning initiative
Nature
Grid Nature Grid provides a
series of maps which are "clickable". When you click the dots on
these maps you gain access to information and more detailed maps, as well as
virtual tours of nature reserves.
Natural
History Museum The
foundation and history of The Natural History Museum and its collections
have involved some of the world's most important natural historians of the
last 250 years.
The
Wonderful World of Insects
Did you know...
Some beetles can grow to over 16cm long?
Some butterflies have wings more than 32cm wide?
These incredible facts come from The Wonderful World of Insects where you
can find out all about ants, bees, beetles, woodlice and all sorts of other
creepy crawlies.
Tiger
on the loose Help the
police track and identify a runaway tiger. Learn all about tigers along the
way!
Tigers
Talk back! A cartoon tiger
answers questions about tiger behaviour and biology.
Tracking
the Tiger trade Go
undercover to Asia to expose the illegal trade in tiger parts. An online
adventure
Worms
An on-line project from the Science Museum of Minnesota involving school
children. It is a well-organised site, including sound files of children
asking questions and reading some of their work. A good stimulus for work on
worms as part of Key Stage 1 or 2 Science. There are links to other worm web
sites.
Humans and other animals
Nutrition
Pupils should be taught
about the functions and care of
teeth
about the need for food for activity
and growth, and about the importance of an adequate and varied diet for
health
Kids
food A site dedicated to
food education and healthy eating
HeartPoint
Gallery describes how the
heart acts as a pump, and lists all the main parts of the heart shown on the
diagram. The site could be used by older children to research the workings
of the heart as part of their work on circulation, or by a teacher finding
out information for a lesson
about the effects on the
human body of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and how these relate to
their personal health
about the importance of exercise for
good health.
Green plants
Growth and nutrition
the effect of light, air, water and
temperature on plant growth
the role of the leaf in
producing new material for growth
that the root anchors the plant, and
that water and minerals are taken in through the root and transported
through the stem to other parts of the plant
Reproduction
about the parts of the flower [for
example, stigma, stamen, petal, sepal] and their role in the life cycle of
flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal and
germination.
Variation and classification
Pupils should be taught:
to make and use keys
how locally occurring
animals and plants can be identified and assigned to groups
that the variety of plants and
animals makes it important to identify them and assign them to groups.
Living things in their environment
Pupils should be taught:
about ways in which living things
and the environment need protection
Adaptation
about the different plants and
animals found in different habitats
how animals and plants in
two different habitats are suited to their environment
Feeding
relationships
to use food chains to
show feeding relationships in a habitat
about how nearly all food chains
start with a green plant
Micro-organisms
that micro-organisms are living
organisms that are often too small to be seen, and that they may be
beneficial [for example, in the breakdown of waste, in making bread] or
harmful [for example, in causing disease, in causing food to go mouldy].
Label
the Plants This activity is
based on a worksheet which can be found on this page. The worksheet asks the
children to label the different parts of the plant.
Natural
Science resources
collection of educational resources (instructional software, lab activities,
lesson plans, student created materials ...) for K-12 mathematics and
science education.
Wild
flower database catalogues,
links, common and Latin names,photographs and gardens to explore.
Materials and their Properties (Sc3)
Grouping and classifying materials
Pupils should be taught:
to compare everyday materials and
objects on the basis of their material properties, including hardness,
strength, flexibility and magnetic behaviour, and to relate these properties
to everyday uses of the materials
that some materials are better
thermal insulators than others
that some materials are better
electrical conductors than others
to describe and group rocks and
soils on the basis of their characteristics, including appearance, texture
and permeability
to recognise differences between
solids, liquids and gases, in terms of ease of flow and maintenance of shape
and volume.
Hardness,
Strength, Flexibility and Magnetism
Four experiments which will develop your children's understanding of the
properties of materials. From the Teaching Ideas for Primary Teacher site.
Changing materials
Pupils should be taught:
to describe changes that occur when
materials are mixed [for example, adding salt to water]
to describe changes that occur when
materials [for example, water, clay, dough] are heated or cooled
that temperature is a measure of how
hot or cold things are
about reversible changes, including
dissolving, melting, boiling, condensing, freezing and evaporating
the part played by evaporation and
condensation in the water cycle
that non-reversible changes [for
example, vinegar reacting with bicarbonate of soda, plaster of Paris with
water] result in the formation of new materials that may be useful
that burning materials [for example,
wood, wax, natural gas] results in the formation of new materials and that
this change is not usually reversible.
how to separate solid particles of
different sizes by sieving [for example, those in soil]
that some solids [for example, salt,
sugar] dissolve in water to give solutions but some [for example, sand,
chalk] do not
how to separate insoluble solids
from liquids by filtering
how to recover dissolved solids by
evaporating the liquid from the solution
to use knowledge of solids, liquids
and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated.
Physical Processes (Sc4)
Pupils should be taught:
Electricity
Simple circuits
to construct circuits, incorporating
a battery or power supply and a range of switches, to make electrical
devices work [for example, buzzers, motors]
how changing the number or type of
components [for example, batteries, bulbs, wires] in a series circuit can
make bulbs brighter or dimmer
how to represent series circuits by
drawings and conventional symbols, and how to construct series circuits on
the basis of drawings and diagrams using conventional symbols.
Circuit
Symbols and Diagrams
Includes two worksheets: 1) A useful reference sheet which shows the
different circuit symbols. 2) A worksheet which tests the children's ability
to identify complete circuits by looking at circuit diagrams.
Balanced
and Unbalanced forces
Investigating the idea of balanced forces, this site provides an experiment
that the children can carry out by themselves using very simple equipment
that sounds are made when objects [for
example, strings on musical instruments] vibrate but that vibrations are not
always directly visible
how to change the pitch and loudness
of sounds produced by some vibrating objects [for example, a drum skin, a
plucked string]
that vibrations from sound sources
require a medium [for example, metal, wood, glass, air] through which to
travel to the ear.
The Earth and beyond
The Sun, Earth and Moon
that the Sun, Earth and Moon are
approximately spherical;
Periodic changes
that the position of the Sun appears
to change during the day, and how shadows change as this happens;
that the Earth spins around its own
axis, and how day and night are related to this spin;
that the Earth orbits the Sun once
each year, and that the Moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the Earth.
Some useful links for Astronomy and
Space
Amazing
Space Amazing Space is a
set of web-based activities primarily designed for classroom use, but made
available for all to enjoy. Current activities include: NEW IN '99: Play
with the building blocks of the universe, galaxies, in Galaxies Galore Find
out what light and colour can tell you about stars in Star Light, Star
Bright | Learn about the objects that make up the Solar System by
collecting Solar System Trading Cards | Train to be a scientist by
enrolling in the Hubble Deep Field Academy | Create a schedule for
the Second Servicing Mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope through
the Astronaut Challenge | Brief history of telescopes from Galileo to
the Hubble Space Telescope.
Ask
an Astronaut The National
Space Society is proud to present the public access to those who have flown
in space. Through this site, you will have the opportunity to read about and
question astronauts while learning about their missions.
Astronomy
Zoom Astronomy is a comprehensive on-line hypertext book about astronomy. It
is designed for people of all ages and levels of comprehension. It has an
easy-to-use structure that allows readers to start at a basic level on each
topic and then to progress to much more advanced information as desired,
simply by clicking on links.
Exploring
Space - Virtual Exhibits.
Explore! will take you on adventures from space weather to the Red Planet.
Passengers may now board the SSI Explore Shuttle. Fasten your seat belt and
place your tray in its upright and locked position. Prepare for launch. Your
cosmic adventure is about to begin!
Galaxies
Galore - Lesson Plan
includes: Goal/Purpose | Desired Learning Outcomes | Prerequisites | New
Vocabulary | Preparation Time | Execution Time | Procedure/Directions |
Evaluation/Assessment | Follow-up Activities/Extensions One-Computer
Classrooms | Classrooms without Computers
Index of Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
images from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and
the Space Telescope Science Institute. These pictures are large JPEG,
Tiff or GIF files. Click
here for more information about the different image file formats.
HST
Public Images by Subject
- without thumbnails.
Click hereto read important information regarding copyright and
the use of these images. It might be useful to print a copy and
distribute to all those who may make use of these pictures within your
school.
Earth
View view of the earth from
the Moon. Zoom in and look more closely
Impact
Craters Almost
all of the craters are less than 600 million years old, and those less than
a mile in diameter are usually around 3 million years old or younger. Most
of the craters are between one and ten miles in diameter. There should be
many craters less than a mile in diameter, but they are harder to find
because they do not survive geological processes as well as larger craters.
Mars
Missions images
and information about the expedition to Mars including Mars Pathfinder July
4th 1997
The
Nine Planets - A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System
This is an essay about our solar system with text, pictures, sounds and an
occasional movie. Each of the planets and major moons in our solar system is
briefly described and illustrated with pictures from NASA spacecraft.
NASA
Exhibits
Aircraft & Major Space Artefacts on Display - browse the list of Air and
Space artefact on display by name or by gallery.
NASA
observatorium
NASA's Observatorium is a public access site for Earth and space data. We
have pictures of the Earth, planets, stars, and other cool stuff, as well as
the stories behind those images.
Planets
worksheets
downloads for teachers produced Hugo Meynell Primary school. This zip
contains a datafile on the Solar System with accompanying worksheets. Files
are written using 'Word' and /or Junior Pinpoint. You will need Winzip to
be installed on your computer to unzip these filesclick
here to download the program.
SkyDen
The first part of the journey takes you from where we are to as far as our
eyes can see. You will find that our universe is much richer than the night
sky reveals. The second part of the journey takes you into areas that
scientists are still working to discover. You will find answers to how the
universe began and how the galaxies formed.
Views
of the planets
information and images about the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets,
meteoroids, people, and the history of space exploration.
Views
of the Solar system
Views of the Solar System presents a vivid multimedia adventure unfolding
the splendour of the Sun, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and more.
Discover the latest scientific information, or study the history of space
exploration, rocketry, early astronauts, space missions, spacecraft through
a vast archive of photographs, scientific facts, text, graphics and videos.
Voyager
Project Home page
This site contains information about the project, read Interstellar Mission
Description, Latest Weekly Status Report, Distance & Velocity
Information, see Voyager spacecraft photos, see many images from the Scenes
from Earth section, and much more.
Welcome
to the Moon! The
NASA/Ames Research Centre in Mountain View,CA invites you and the world to
participate in the day-to-day events surrounding the first NASA Moon mission
in 25 years!
Welcome
to the Planets
This is a collection of many of the best images from NASA's planetary
exploration program.
Who's
out there?Who's
out's there? Are humans alone in the universe? Scientists involved in SETI—the
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence—are using modern technology to
search for the answer to this age-old question. What if you were hired to
lead such a search? Explore what you need to know to design a SETI research
project, then test your skills at searching for alien signals! How will you
search? Where will you search? What will you look for?
Window
to the Universe
Our purpose is to develop a fun and different Web site about the Earth an
Space sciences.
The
Franklin Institute Science Museum:
This page has a wide range of resources for students interested in science,
including a feature on women in science.
Nuffield
Science Projects: Take a
look at these projects to do with space science that are designed
specifically to meet National Curriculum requirements
Sea
and Sky - A great web site
dedicated to the last two great frontiers
The
Science Club - A superb
resource for teachers, parents and children alike
Science
Investigator's Club Welcome
to the Science Investigators' Club from Ginn. You will find three new
investigations here every term. Each investigation includes step by step
instructions together with planning and reporting outlines for you to
download and photocopy free of charge.
The
Science Learning Network:
This site boasts a wide range of science related resources aimed at school
children. It tries to link its content to current events
EXPLORATORIUM
The Programme of Study
for Science Key Stage 2 (2002) 