Knowledge and Content

Living things and their habitats

The children will learn about the changes humans undergo as they develop to old age. They will describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird. Pupils will describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

Properties and Changes of Materials

The children will compare and group everyday materials according to different properties. The children learn that some materials are better electrical conductors than others. Pupils will give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic. They will begin to learn the differences between solids, liquids and gases in terms of how they flow and whether they maintain their shape and volume. They learn how to separate solid particles of different sizes and how to separate insoluble materials from water. They will learn that some materials dissolve in water and how the solid can be recovered from the solution. They will learn to identify reversible changes.

Earth and Space

They learn that the Sun, Earth and Moon are roughly spherical in shape and how the position of the Sun appears to change during the day and how this affects shadows. They will learn how day and night are caused. Children learn about the orbits of the Earth and moon.

Forces

The children will learn that gravity is a force which pulls objects towards the Earth. They will find out about the effects that air resistance, water resistance and friction have on movement. They will investigate how levers, pulleys and gears can be used to make a smaller force have more impact.

Working Scientifically

Through the above topics, the children will develop scientific investigation skills. They will learn that it is important to test ideas by using evidence from observations and measurements. They will further develop skills in asking questions which can be investigated scientifically and decide how to find answers to these questions. They will begin to decide the sources of information (first hand experience or other sources) they will use to answer their questions. They will think about what might happen in an investigation and will decide what equipment to use. They will make investigations a fair test. The children will use equipment safely and will make careful observations and measurements which they will record in a variety of ways, including through ICT. They will start to make comparisons and identify patterns in their own observations and measurements and will begin to draw conclusions from this. They will decide whether the results agree with the predictions made. They will repeat measurements where needed and comment on the reliability of the data they have collected. The children will use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain observations or measurements.