For many learners Science can be a world of awe and wonder. Through building a sense of curiosity and connection, we can foster pupils’ natural appreciation and curiosity about the world around them. By providing an engaging and relevant curriculum we further seek to inspire, motivate and stimulate, within our pupils, a curiosity to learn and ask questions that promote a deeper understanding.
Having a good understanding and well-developed scientific vocabulary will give our students valuable life skills to understand how and why everyday situations occur and how they might manage these situations more effectively, particularly regarding cause and effect.
By challenging misconceptions that students hold we can develop within our students a broader and deeper understanding of the concepts.
Our science curriculum has been developed by staff to ensure we are able to cover the full national curriculum however we recognise that, for our younger learners, the challenge of coverage should not be a barrier to engagement with the subject. By carefully selecting key concepts and ideas that are relevant to our pupils we can tailor our curriculum to meet individual needs. Ensuring good progress from pupils starting points.
Science Implementation
The teaching of Science at The Altus School varies and is centre dependent, however the key principles of our implementation are:
- Following elicitation, the delivered curriculum is tailored to the individual student so that they can take their learning to the next level.
- Setting ambitious and challenging targets for pupil progress
- An experiential approach, including outdoor learning, trips that builds pupils curiosity and encourages independence of thought and approach.
- Rich opportunities for practical work are exploited allowing pupils to develop their practical skill set.
- Careful and well-planned questioning allows teachers to draw out pupils’ misconceptions and understand pupils thinking, promoting a deeper learning.
- By considering key ideas in a range of contexts, we develop pupils’ ability to transfer their learning from one context to another.
- Using every opportunity to model curiosity in the world around us.
- Engagement with the scientific community through the STEM project, mentoring opportunities from industry and promoting careers and opportunities in STEM.
- Encouraging pupils to listen to one another and hear other viewpoints – the world of science is collaborative.
- Encouraging pupils to justify and explain thinking, recognising these are key scientific skills and principles.
- Supporting learners in the first instance, through well planned scaffolding and encouraging them to take risks as they gain confidence.
- Providing a supportive and safe learning environment where all ideas are valued and encouraged, and curiosity overcomes fear of being involved.
- Pupils are given opportunities and the vocabulary to articulate their thoughts and understanding.