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Key Stage 1
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The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including
observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways. Most of the learning about science should be done through the use of first-hand
practical experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos.
‘Working scientifically’ is described separately in the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to the teaching of substantive science content in the programme of study. Throughout the notes and guidance, examples show how scientific methods and skills might be linked to specific elements of the content. Pupils should read and spell scientific vocabulary at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at key stage 1.
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Year 1
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Seasonal change, Everyday materials, Plants, Animals including humans.
Plants
- identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees
- identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.
Animals including humans
- identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
- identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
Everyday materials
- distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made
- identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass,
metal, water, and rock
- describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials
- compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties
Seasonal changes
Pupils should be taught to:
- observe changes across the four seasons
- observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies.
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Year 2
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All living things and their habitats, Animals including humans, Uses of everyday materials, Plants.
Living things and their habitats
Pupils should be taught to:
- explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive
- identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe
- how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other
- identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats
- describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.
Plants
Pupils should be taught to:
- observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants
- find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.
Animals including humans
Pupils should be taught to:
- notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
- find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
- describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different
- types of food, and hygiene.
Use of everyday materials
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses
- find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
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Key Stage 2
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During years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific
methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:
- asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer
them
- setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
- making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate
measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including
thermometers and data loggers
- gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in
answering questions
- recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams,
keys, bar charts, and tables
- reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays
or presentations of results and conclusions
- using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest
improvements and raise further questions
- identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and
processes
- using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their
findings.
During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific
methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:
- planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including
recognising and controlling variables where necessary
- taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing
accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
- recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and
labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
- using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
- reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal
relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written
forms such as displays and other presentations
- identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or
arguments.
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Year 3
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Plants, Animals including humans, Light, Rocks, Forces and magnets.
Plants
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots,
stem/trunk, leaves and flowers
- explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from
soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant
- investigate the way in which water is transported within plants
- explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including
pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.
Animals including humans
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition,
and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
- identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for
support, protection and movement.
Rocks
Pupils should be taught to:
- compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance
and simple physical properties
- describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are
trapped within rock
- recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.
Light
Pupils should be taught to:
- recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of
light
- notice that light is reflected from surfaces
- recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect
their eyes
- recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a
solid object
- find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
Forces and Magnets
Pupils should be taught to:
- compare how things move on different surfaces
- notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can
act at a distance
- observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not
others
- compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether
they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
- describe magnets as having two poles
- predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which
poles are facing.
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Year 4
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Sound, States of Matter, Electricity, Animals including humans, All living things.
Animals including humans
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
- identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
- construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and
prey.
All living things
Pupils should be taught to:
- recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
- explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living
things in their local and wider environment
- recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers
to living things.
States of Matter
Pupils should be taught to:
- compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids
or gases
- observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and
measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)
- identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and
associate the rate of evaporation with temperature
Sound
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
- recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear
- find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
- find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that
produced it
- recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.
Electricity
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify common appliances that run on electricity
- construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts,
including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
- identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or
not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
- recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or
not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
- recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being
good conductors.
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Year 5
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Animals including humans, properties and changes of materials, Forces, Earth and space, All living things.
All living things
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and
a bird
- describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.
Animals including humans
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe the changes as humans develop to old age.
Properties and changes of materials
Pupils should be taught to:
- compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties,
including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and
thermal), and response to magnets
- know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how
to recover a substance from a solution
- use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be
separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
- give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular
uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic
- demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
- explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind
of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and
the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.
Earth and Space
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the
solar system
- describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth
- describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies
- use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent
movement of the sun across the sky.
Forces
Pupils should be taught to:
- explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of
gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
- identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between
moving surfaces
- recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a
smaller force to have a greater effect.
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Year 6
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All living things, Evolution and inheritance, Light, Animals including humans, Electricity
All living things
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common
observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms,
plants and animals
- give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.
Animals including humans
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the
functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
- recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies
function
Evolution and inheritance
Pupils should be taught to:
- recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide
information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
- recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring
vary and are not identical to their parents
- identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different
ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.
Light
Pupils should be taught to:
- recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines
- use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen
because they give out or reflect light into the eye
- explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or
from light sources to objects and then to our eyes
- use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same
shape as the objects that cast them.
Electricity
Pupils should be taught to:
- associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and
voltage of cells used in the circuit
- compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the
brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
- use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
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