Science

Curriculum Intent

‘Science is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science’ (DFE, 2015).

The Science Mastery programme intends to aim to improve opportunities for all young people.  This means enabling every child to develop a comprehensive understanding of the big picture of science and leave school with the science capital required to inform their decision-making throughout their lives.  Our programme aims to prepare all pupils academically for further scientific study and a career in science, and to inform pupils about the dynamic complexities of the natural world and their place in it.  Our curriculum is therefore broad, coherent, practical and rigorous, allowing pupils to be ‘inspired and challenged by the subject and its achievements’ (DFE, 2015).  What are young people expected (broadly) to know and do?

The Science Mastery curriculum builds on pupils’ scientific understanding from KS1and KS2.  The principal focus of science teaching in KS1 and KS2 is to enable pupils to ‘broaden their scientific view of the world around them and develop an understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas’ (DFE, 2015).

Pupils are first introduced to the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics at KS3, and the principal focus of science teaching at this stage is to allow pupils to ‘develop a deeper understanding of content within each of the three subject disciplines’ (DFE, 2015).  This remains the principal focus into KS4, which explains why the Science Mastery curriculum shows a five-year progression of content and skills within each of the three subject disciplines.

By the end of KS4, pupils are expected to ‘appreciate the achievements of science in showing how the complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a number of key ideas relating to the sciences which are inter-linked, and which are of universal application’ (DFE, 2015).  To ensure all young people are able to do this, the Science Mastery curriculum sequences the knowledge and content pupils must learn across the five years of secondary education under a series of ‘big ideas’.

The Science Mastery curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the natural world by ensuring the delivery of accurate scientific knowledge and supplying relevant and engaging example applications of this knowledge.  The curriculum also allows pupils to appreciate how our increasingly technological society is evolving using engaging news stories and novel applications.

How have we identified specifically what young people should know and be able to do from studying this curriculum?

The Science Mastery curriculum is underpinned by four key elements of great science education, factual and conceptual understanding, mathematics, practical and enquiry skills, language and communication, and application of knowledge and skills.  These have been used to plan and sequence learning of the fundamental and substantive knowledge specified by the National Curriculum for England.  The curriculum starts with the fundamental knowledge all pupils must know in order to understand the substantive knowledge necessary to build a big picture of the world around them (Green, 2017).  Years 7 and 8 are therefore knowledge-rich, with a series of shorter units allowing pupils to learn the fundamental knowledge and begin to develop their skills in thinking like a scientist.  The curriculum empowers pupils to be able to apply this knowledge, whilst engaging pupils in practical science and discussion such that they finish the programme equipped with the knowledge and skills required to complete further study, be responsible citizens and make informed decisions in their lives.

To specify what young people should know by the end of Year 9, the links between the KS3 and KS4 National Curriculum were identified and larger units were developed that are rooted in the fundamentals of the KS4 curriculum.  This approach ensures that pupils engage with the fundamental knowledge in more depth prior to Year 10, revisiting and consolidating key concepts from KS3 in order to prevent the prevalence of misconceptions as they begin KS4.  Some historically weak KS4 knowledge is introduced gently in Year 9, such as some aspects of Quantitative Chemistry, to provide pupils with time to build their learning of these skills over three years as opposed to two.  Some traditionally ‘separate science’ content has been included where there are links to the KS3 curriculum, or where their relevance to today’s world means that all pupils should have the opportunity to learn the content, regardless of the route followed at GCSE.  For example, all pupils will engage in the ‘B3.2 Human Interaction’ unit in Year 9 in order that they learn about key issues such as food security and the importance of maintaining biodiversity; topics they would not have the opportunity to study if they go on to follow a combined science route at GCSE.

In Year 10 and Year 11, Science Mastery units meet the specification of AQA Combined Science or Separate Sciences.  All content for Paper 1 is covered in Year 10 so that students can sit a full paper 1 and give teachers an accurate snapshot of their attainment at that point.  KS4 units are structured to provide a coherent picture of the science, so Higher Tier only content and Separate Science only content are included in the pathway through the unit and clearly signposted.

The four key elements of science education underpinning the Science Mastery curriculum, adapted from the National Curriculum, are outlined below:

1.  Factual and conceptual understanding

All pupils should:

  • Have the opportunity to acquire factual knowledge
  • Be supported to make links between topics of study
  • Be supported to represent concepts using objects, pictures, models and analogies
  • Finish their secondary science education with an appreciation of how scientific understanding evolves over time

The Science Mastery curriculum maps the factual knowledge requirements of secondary science under a set of big ideas, which are then divided into units of study that build sequentially over time.  The sequence is narrated clearly to teachers in order that they can effectively support pupils to make links to previous learning.  Pictures, models and analogies are embedded into the lesson design and used to support the introduction of key knowledge across the curriculum, and scientific enquiry skills are integrated into every unit.

The history of science supports the introduction of new concepts.  Pupils will learn about a diverse range of scientists and how their research has contributed to current scientific understanding.  Pupils will finish the programme with an understanding of the wide range of STEM careers in which people continue to work on developing our scientific understanding of the world around us.

2.  Mathematics, practical and enquiry skills

All pupils should:

  • Be provided with plenty of opportunity to understand the nature, processes and methods of science (‘working scientifically’)
  • Develop procedural knowledge in order to show a wide range of practical skills
  • Be able to evaluate experimental design such that they are able to recognise good and bad science
  • Be able to think numerically
  • Be supported to embed relevant mathematics skills from the programme of study for mathematics
  • Develop their use of scientific vocabulary, including the use of scientific nomenclature and units and mathematical representations

The Science Mastery curriculum supports pupils to develop their mathematics, practical and enquiry skills against a series of 100 skills statements.  These have been developed from the National Programme of Study practical and maths skills descriptors.  They have been broken into measurable sub-statements, and specific techniques and skills that support pupil enquiry have been added.

The statements have been grouped into four categories:

  • Development of scientific thinking
  • Experimental skills and strategies
  • Evaluation, Data Analysis and Maths skills
  • Units and quantities

These skills have been linked to science content across the five years.  Skills are explicitly taught where they are introduced to pupils for the first time and then embedded a minimum of three times across different units.  This ensures that pupils finish their secondary education having practised each skill in different contexts.  Practical investigations have been developed in collaboration with expert technicians from across the Ark network, and examples for the development of scientific thinking are highlighted throughout the curriculum.

3.  Language and communication

All pupils should:

  • Be familiar with, and use, technical terminology accurately and precisely
  • Build up an extended specialist vocabulary
  • Be able to present scientific information accurately
  • Critique scientific information they are exposed to in their daily lives
  • Have the opportunity to hear high quality scientific language being used
  • Have the opportunity to practice articulating scientific concepts clearly and precisely

The Science Mastery curriculum promotes pupil dialogue using talk tasks that are integrated into every lesson.  These talk tasks aim to uncover key misconceptions and provide pupils with the opportunity to discuss scientific ideas.  Pupils are supported to develop their scientific vocabulary using Frayer organisers, etymology, glossaries and exposure to scientific texts.  Extended reading opportunities are embedded across the curriculum, with a reading comprehension focus promoted.  Science is communicated using a wide range of forms, with pupils being exposed to information presented using symbols, models, graphs, tables and diagrams.

4.  Application of knowledge and skills

All pupils should:

  • Be able to use knowledge and skills in new contexts to answer questions, solve problems and explain observations
  • Relate scientific explanations to phenomena in the world around them
  • Start to use modelling and abstract ideas to develop and evaluate explanations

Knowledge and skills are introduced and revisited across an interleaved map, so teachers can support pupils to see how concepts link.  Each unit includes materials to support pupils to appreciate how their learning can be applied to the real world, linking pupils to possible career options and current scientific developments.  Pupils will develop an appreciation of the relevance of the science they are learning through Science in the News activities.  Every lesson provides pupils with the opportunity to engage in independent work, applying knowledge learnt in the first part of the lesson to a range of scenarios.

As the course progresses, pupils will be encouraged to apply skills learnt in the first years of the programme to new scientific enquiry; planning experiments and selecting the most appropriate procedures and techniques.

Why is the content structured in the way we have chosen?

The Science Mastery programme sequences the knowledge and skills outlined by the National Programme of Study under a series of big ideas (Harlen, 2010 and 2015).  This enables a progression of knowledge and skills such that pupils are supported to remember the key ideas over time and make sense of complex scientific ideas at GCSE and beyond.  The big ideas are used to narrate how newly acquired factual knowledge fits into a pupil’s existing knowledge base.

In Years 7 and 8, pupils will learn the fundamental knowledge and skills they need to be successful in each of the three science disciplines in a series of shorter units.  In Years 9-11, pupils will build their fundamental knowledge further whilst starting to apply previously learnt knowledge to more complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world to build their substantive knowledge.  This KS3 programme of study equips pupils with all the knowledge they will need to pursue any course of study from Year 9.

As the programme of study progresses, pupils are encouraged to make links to and between the following big ideas:

  • Cells are alive
  • Bodies are systems
  • Characteristics are inherited
  • Organisms are interdependent
  • Ecosystems cycle resources
  • Structure determines properties
  • Reactions rearrange matter
  • Earth systems interact
  • Forces predict motion
  • Fields produce forces
  • Energy is conserved
  • Electricity transfers energy
  • Radiation transfers energy

The Department for Education states that ‘it is vitally important that pupils develop a secure understanding of each key block of knowledge and concepts in order to progress to the next stage.  Insecure, superficial understanding will not allow genuine progression, pupils may build up serious misconceptions, and/or have significant difficulties in understanding higher-order content (DFE, 2015).

The Science Mastery curriculum outlines the key knowledge that must be secure by the end of each unit and provides diagnostic end-of-unit assessment to check the strength of this understanding in all pupils.  All new units begin with a pre-unit quiz and a review of content previously taught under the same big idea.  This supports pupils to activate prior knowledge, see the connections between what they are learning and create meaning from their knowledge (Green, 2017).

The curriculum ensures a secure understanding of key blocks of knowledge and concepts using carefully designed lessons that build knowledge sequentially.  This is done at pace in order that pupils can experience a diverse and knowledge-rich curriculum.  To prevent insecure understanding, diagnostic checks based upon key misconceptions are embedded into every lesson, and these are used to inform the review of key content in subsequent lessons.  This supports pupils to develop a comprehensive understanding of the science they learn at secondary school.