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PROGRAMME OF STUDY
Knowledge, skills and understanding
Teaching should ensure that scientific enquiry is taught through contexts taken from the sections on life processes and living things , materials and their properties and physical processes .
The general teaching requirement for health and safety applies in this subject. During key stage 3 pupils build on their scientific knowledge and understanding and make connections between different areas of science. They use scientific ideas and models to explain phenomena and events, and to understand a range of familiar applications of science. They think about the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts. They take account of others' views and understand why opinions may differ. They do more quantitative work, carrying out investigations on their own and with others. They evaluate their work, in particular the strength of the evidence they and others have collected. They select and use a wide range of reference sources. They communicate clearly what they did and its significance. They learn how scientists work together on presentday scientific developments and about the importance of experimental evidence in supporting scientific ideas.
Ideas and evidence in science
1) Pupils should be taught:
a)
about the interplay between empirical questions, evidence and scientific explanations using historical and contemporary examples [ for example, Lavoisier's work on burning, the possible causes of global warming]
b) that it is important to test explanations by using them to make predictions and by seeing if evidence matches the predictions
c) about the ways in which scientists work today and how they worked in the past, including the roles of experimentation, evidence and creative thought in the development of scientific ideas.
Investigative skills
2) Pupils should be taught to:
Planning
a) use scientific knowledge and understanding to turn ideas into a form that can be investigated, and to decide on an appropriate approach
b) decide whether to use evidence from firsthand experience or secondary sources
c) carry out preliminary work and to make predictions, where appropriate
d)
consider key factors that need to be taken into account when collecting evidence, and how evidence may be collected in contexts [for example, fieldwork, surveys] in which the variables cannot readily be controlled
e)
decide the extent and range of data to be collected and the techniques, equipment and materials to use [for example, appropriate sample size for biological work]
Obtaining and presenting evidence
f) use a range of equipment and materials appropriately and take action to control risks to themselves and to others
g)
make observations and measurements, including the use of ICT for datalogging [for example, variables changing over time] to an appropriate degree of precision
h) make sufficient relevant observations and measurements to reduce error and obtain reliable evidence
i) use a wide range of methods, including diagrams, tables, charts, graphs and ICT, to represent and communicate qualitative and quantitative data
Considering evidence
j) use diagrams, tables, charts and graphs, including lines of best fit, to identify and describe patterns or relationships in data
k) use observations, measurements and other data to draw conclusions
l) decide to what extent these conclusions support a prediction or enable further predictions to be made
m) use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain and interpret observations, measurements or other data, and conclusions
Evaluating
n) consider anomalies in observations or measurements and try to explain them
o) consider whether the evidence is sufficient to support any conclusions or interpretations made
p) suggest improvements to the methods used, where appropriate.
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