Moneydarragh Primary School

Science & Technology Policy

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Adopted by Board of Governors
October 2007

This policy has been discussed and agreed by the whole staff.

Aims
At Moneydarragh Primary School our aim is:-

To promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, intellectual and physical development of pupils.

To prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

To help pupils to develop appropriate concepts, skills and attitudes which will help them to gain a lasting sense of wonder, excitement and achievement.

In science we aim specifically to enable pupils to appreciate the important contribution science and technology make to society and to develop in the children an enquiring mind and a scientific approach to problem solving and to extend their knowledge and understanding of Scientific ideas.

Skills, Concepts and Attitudes
Pupils will be encouraged to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it.
a) Through A.T. 1 Investigating and Making we will develop the skills of:

Observation, communication, making, estimating and measuring, classifying, experimenting, fair testing, looking for patterns and attempting to explain by:
i) Interpreting data
ii) Making hypotheses
iii) Drawing conclusions

b) Through A.T. 2 Knowledge and Understanding, we will foster and develop the concepts of:
i) Living Things
ii) Materials
iii) Physical Processes

c) We will encourage the following attitudes:
Interest, curiosity, enjoyment, perseverance, self confidence, co-operation, open-mindedness, responsibility and respect for safety, living things and the environment. Pupils will be encouraged to appreciate that some things remain uncertain.

Support
Pupils, teachers, principal, classroom assistants, SELB, representatives and visitors to our school will all contribute to the school's science and technology curriculum.

Resources
Specialised science and technology resources will be centralised in the Resource Room. Resources will be accessibly stored and an inventory will be kept.(See Appendix 1) Faulty equipment will be reported to the science co-ordinator.

Other resources will include TVs, radios, DVD players, Computers and C2K software and the Schools' Library Service. The school and local environment will be used to assist us in our scientific exploration and discovery.

Safety
Risk assessments will be carried out prior to all practical activities. Teachers have access to the SELB Safety Policy Feb 2006. It is included in Appendix 2.

Classroom Management
Classroom management will be appropriate to the nature of the activity, maturity and discipline of the children.

Links with Other Subjects
Many science and technology topics, especially at Key Stage 1, are approached and developed through themes.

Opportunities for unplanned diversions or extensions arising from children's questions, additional opportunities or other stimuli will be encouraged.

Literacy, Numeracy and ICT links identified and developed at both Key Stages. The three core subjects share processes which include; collaborating, exploring, investigating, making choices and decisions, organising, explaining, talking and communicating, sharing, taking responsibility, asking and answering, recording, interpreting, predicting, recalling and reflecting.

Literacy/Science and Technology activities require competence in researching and evaluating information. The ability to record observations, ideas and findings accurately will be encourages.

Mathematics/Science and Technology links provide contexts and relevance for computation. Both subjects use data handling and measures extensively eg. length, volume, time, collection, recording and processing data. The recognition of patterns and relationships will be encouraged and children will be afforded opportunities in both science and maths to sort, classify, formulate and test hypotheses.

Range and Balance of Teaching Processes
Our aim is to ensure that all pupils will be introduced to the main concepts from the whole range of the Programmes of Study. A balance will be struck between skills development and the acquisition of knowledge. We aim to raise an awareness that science based issues may affect their own lives, the direction of society and the future of the world. We will encourage the children to use initiative and we will foster independence.

Teaching processes will range from whole class teaching, group work, working in pairs to individual work.

Team teaching, structured and unstructured activities, complete and open ended investigations, questioning, design and making tasks will form part of the teaching processes.

Children will be encouraged to pose questions, discuss, seek answers, test out ideas, solve problems and think in logical manner.

Teachers will ask open ended questions to ensure children develop the ability to think in a logical manner. The ability to recognise uncertainty and error is a part of the scientific process.

Children will be given experiences to reinforce and extend knowledge and skills development.

Learning activities will be designed to develop the children's abilities to communicate, to relate science and technology to everyday life and to explore, investigate and make, for example:

i) Explorations and investigations which require children to use initiative - the 'do', 'describe which' and 'find a way to' type.
ii) The promotion of ideas and seeking of solutions.
iii) Using the senses to sort, group and describe objects and events in the child's immediate environment, noting similarities and differences.
iv) Developing measuring skills using non-standard and simple standard measurement.
v) Recording results - the need for systematic recording using appropriate means.
vi) Interpreting results.
vii) Using reporting skills, ideally by talking but also by any other appropriate means.
viii) Promoting the raising and answering of questions.
ix) Encouraging a working understanding of safety and care.
x) Engaging in individual and group activities which are set within the children's everyday experience and providing them with opportunities to explore with increasing precision where appropriate.
xi) Building on children's existing practical skills.
xii) Encouraging individual and group activities which require the deployment of an increasingly systematic approach involving the identification and manipulation of variables.
xiii) Initiating activities which involve variables to be controlled in the development of a fair test.
xiv) Encouraging the children to make decisions about when, what and how to measure.
xv) Developing skills concerned with the use of measuring equipment.
xvi) Generating ideas which can be investigated.
xvii) Searching for patterns in data.
xviii) Interpreting data and evaluating it against the demands of a problem.
xix) Develop written and/or oral skills in order to communicate effectively.
xx) Using technical vocabulary in communicating findings and ideas.

Classroom Organisation
This will be in accordance with the type of activity and the appropriate risk assessment. This will include whole class teaching, demonstration lessons or practical class work, with children working in small groups performing similar or differentiated tasks.

Recording
Written work will be recorded on worksheets and in exercise books. Records will be kept of the learning experiences to which the children have been introduced through worksheets, exercise books and photographs.

Assessment
Assessment activities will include questioning, review of children's work, tests, home research, teacher interaction with pupils and systematic observation of groups and/or individual children. Scientific skills will be assessed. Children will be encouraged to engage in self assessment.

Reporting
Progress will be reported to parents through parent teacher meetings and end of year reports.

Homework
Reinforcement or extension work may be set and projects to be completed over a given period of time. Children will be expected to learn certain scientific facts.

Gender
Topics of interest to both boys and girls will be covered. All children will be afforded opportunities for equal access to all areas of the science and technology Programme of Study. Strategies which support the different learning styles will be included when appropriate.

Monitoring and Evaluating
Teachers will regularly review and evaluate the school's science and technology policy and the teaching and learning within their class. This policy will be reviewed every 2 years or as is necessary.

Cross Curricular Themes
Every opportunity will be taken to maximise children's involvement in the areas of Health Education, EMU, Cultural Heritage and Information Technology.

Differentiation
Pupils will approach science and technology processes, content and activities with different levels of ability and attainment. Learning activities will be inclusive and designed in ways which provide opportunities for individual children to work at their own level and hopefully progress to higher levels of achievement.

Appropriate resources will be made available to cater for the requirements of individual children when necessary.

Differentiation will be planned for in a variety of ways eg:

a) Investigating a common topic through graded activities.
b) Engage in step by step activities in order of difficulty.
c) Adopting different teaching strategies eg. Variety of writing
frames, pictorial or oral instruction for less able pupils and
written instructions and questioning for the more able children.
d) Recording using simple pictures to detailed diagrams and
accepting explanations, both oral and written.
e) Grouping children according to mixed ability and gender.
f) Different levels of teacher support.
g) Independent learning.
h) Extension activities for the more able and re-inforcement
activities for the less able.

Specific Technology Aspects

i) Key Stage 1
Pupils will be given opportunities to:
" Develop appropriate language associated with technology.
" Increase their awareness of the importance of technology.
" Try things out for themselves.
" Suggest ideas.
" Draw pictures to record what they have made.
" Put things together and take things apart.
" Plan and adapt as they construct.
" Link experiences and activities into themes and topics.
" Make simple models.
" Use computers.
" Integrate technology with science.
" Be made aware of safety and careful actions in science and technology, particularly with equipment.

ii) Key Stage 2
Pupils will be given opportunities to:
" Develop their skills.
" Integrate technology into themes or topics.
" Construct, using a wide variety of materials and equipment.
" Plan and adapt as they work.
" Evaluate and revise their work.
" Make suggestions for improvement.
" Develop oral, written and graphic communication skills.
" Communicate by drawing.
" Make models.
" Gain a coherent experience in Technology.
" Develop investigations in Science from Technology work.
" Be made aware of the importance of safety and careful actions, particularly when using equipment.
" Be aware of technology progress over time.

Appendix 1

Inventory Science and Technology resources

Electricity
20 battery holders and 20 batteries 2 rolls electrical wires
1 buzzer game,2 bells and 8 buzzers 6 screw drivers
Bulb holders(simple 38)(with base 7) 15 switches
10 motors 1 radio construction set 10 bulbs 25 crocodile leads

Light
2 microscopes 8 colour filters
14 glass magnifiers and 24 small 10 glass mirrors
10 concave/convex plastic mirrors 21 plastic mirrors
4 prisms

Magnetism
6 horseshoe magnets 14 bar

Heat
9 forehead thermometers 10 glass thermometers

General
1 incubator 2 wormery 1 fossil set
1 waymaster spring 16 display cubes 1 stetescope
20 syringes 36 slide making kit 50 test tubes
Tape measure 2 cookers/ovens 1 microwave
1 fridge

Technology Resources
Very Limited resources
Need - Balsa wood.
Car building Kit £25

Appendix 2

Health and Safety
Equipment
1. Ensure that objects are placed in a safe position during experiments. This should prevent them from falling or being knocked over and broken.
2. Don't run when carrying equipment that may shatter or cause injury.
3. Avoid using glass, where possible.
4. Plastic bags can cause suffocation. They are potential hazards.

Experiments
1. Do not engage in dangerous activities (e.g Climbing on the school walls)
2. Extreme physical exertion is to be avoided.
3. The correct techniques for handling and using cutting implements such as scissors should be taught.
4. Care should be taken when throwing or dropping objects. These activities should be undertaken in carefully chosen and monitored places.

Heat and Light
1. Candles, night lights should be set in a sand tray.
2. When using naked flames children should be warned about hair, ties, clothing etc. coming into contact with the flame. They should not lean over the candle. It is safer for the teacher to ignite and extinguish the flame.
3. Special care is needed when using matches.
4. Butane or split burners should not be used.
5. Liquids which produce inflammable vapours, e.g. metholated spirits, should never be used.
6. Care should be taken when using thermometers. Do not use mercury thermometers.
7. Avoid using glass, where possible.
8. Never, under any circumstance, look directly at the sun.
9. Avoid looking at bright lights.
10. Lenses focus heat and light. Be careful when using them.
11. Convex lenses and concave mirrors can, in strong sunlight, cause fires if heat is focused on inflammable substances.

Hygiene

1. Wash hands before handling or eating food.
2. Constantly clean shared equipment after individual use, e.g. eating utensils etc.

Magnetism/Electricity
1. Magnets can affect watches, computer tapes etc. Contact between magnets and such objects should be avoided.
2. Low voltage batteries should be used for electricity and magnetism experiments.
3. The contents of batteries can be dangerous.
4. Low voltages can cause short lengths of thin wire to become hot, glow or cause things to ignite.

Personal Safety
1. Take care when holding objects close to the eye.
2. Do not carry heavy loads, e.g buckets of water.
3. Objects should not be pushed into ears or noses.

Plants and Animals
1. Do not handle poisonous plants, berries etc.
2. Some animals cause allergies.
3. Wild animals, dead or alive, should not be brought into school..
4. After handling or stroking animals, hands should be washed.
5. Never let an animal lick your face.
6. Food for animals should be safely and carefully stored so that it does not become contaminated or infested.

Substances
1. Don't spill or drop liquids or substances onto the floor. This may cause people to slip or fall.
2. Only permit the tasting of things under strict supervision.
3. Care should be taken with household chemicals such as 'Alka Seltzer' tablets and vinegar. Pressure can cause chemicals to shoot out. Heating substances can cause them to bubble and spit, e.g. sugar.
4. Avoid use of hazardous glues. These can be inflammable or give off vapours which are dangerous when inhaled.
5. Moulds should not be grown.

SELB Safety Policy (February 2006) will be adhered to in every aspect of this policy. See www.selb.org