Science and Technology

Scientific learning is fundamental to exploring, understanding and influencing the natural and made worlds in which we live.  Practical investigation in school offers a wealth of experiences and introduces them to considering the big ideas and questions that drive their natural curiosity and creativity.  The experience of science learning at school should inspire a sense of awe and wonder as children learn to value ideas and to see talking, thinking and imagining as essential elements in developing understanding.

In Science and Technology, children tackle problems, form questions, generate and test ideas and designs and they decide how to seek solutions.  They gather and make sense of evidence, test out hypotheses and evaluate processes and outcomes.  Science experiences are taught through a number of specific themes, broadly covered through the three traditional disciplines:

  • Biology – including living things and habitats (plants, animals and humans), evolution
  • Chemistry – rocks, everyday materials, properties and changes of materials
  • Physics – seasonal changes, electricity, light, forces and magnets, the Earth in space

Children live in an age of fast-moving science, design and technology and there is little evidence that the pace of change will slow in their future lives.  This area of learning helps them to find new ways of looking at the world and, through design, to respond to peoples’ needs.  As they appreciate advances in technology they engage with the different ways it can be applied in our everyday lives.  An element of at least one topic each year focuses on food including healthy eating, preparation and presentation.  This is as much an aspect of technology as the making of models and objects or ‘artifacts’.  As with Science as many activities and experiences as possible provide opportunities for children to develop practical skills.  Our aim is that as children learn of all the possibilities of science, design and technology they may be inspired to become the scientists, engineers, designers and innovators of the future.