Primary Science Course Lecture 3: Materials and Process Skills Review

1. Essex Primary SCITT Primary Science Course Lecture 3

2. Review of last time • To develop trainees’ knowledge and understanding about materials, including: • materials and their properties • solids, liquids, gases • particle theory • effect of heating and cooling • change of state • dissolving • To develop trainees’ knowledge and understanding of the process skills of observing and questioning. • To learn how to plan an individual/paired practical science activity, including how to organise the classroom so that this can be done safely.

3. Feedback from last time • Can we call you Jezza? • Could we discuss different science lessons in our school and share experiences?

4. Objectives for the day • Develop trainees’ knowledge and understanding about materials, including: reversible and irreversible changes - mixing and separating materials . • Learn how to plan, organise and teach a scientific investigation, including developing trainee knowledge and understanding of the process skills of questioning, hypothesising and predicting, and planning to make a test fair. • Observe a science lesson being taught and evaluate its effectiveness. • Develop trainees’ knowledge and understanding of formative assessment and how to use this to assess children’s learning to inform next steps.

5. What have we learnt so far?

6. A constructivist view of learning Based on the work of Piaget (maturation) and Vygotsky (zone of proximal development) • A child’s head is not empty • There is an interaction between pre-existing ideas and new experiences and phenomena • Children attempt to make sense of new experiences and phenomena by constructing meaning • This is a continuous and active process • To learn, therefore, children not only have to assimilate new concepts but also develop, modify and change existing ones

8. Formation ofnew materials

9. Properties and changes of materials – Year 5 Pupils should be taught to: • compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their solubility. • know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution. • demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes. • use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating. • explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.

10. Notes and guidance (non-statutory) • Pupils should build a more systematic understanding of materials by exploring and comparing the properties of a broad range of materials. They should explore reversible changes, including, evaporating, filtering, sieving, melting and dissolving, recognising that melting and dissolving are different processes. Pupils should explore changes that are difficult to reverse, for example, burning, rusting and other reactions, for example, vinegar with bicarbonate of soda. They should find out about how chemists create new materials, for example, Spencer Silver, who invented the glue for sticky notes or Ruth Benerito, who invented wrinkle-free cotton.

11. Physical and Chemical changes • Physical change • no new substances formed • change is usually reversible • there may have been a change of state (e.g. ice to water) or shape (e.g. broken glass). • Chemical change • new substances formed • the original substances cannot be got back • gas may be produced • change is usually irreversible (e.g. yeast/sugar solution, fried egg, cake, rusted metal, burnt wood)

12. How do solids react with different liquids? Carry out a systematic comparative test to find out Liquids • lemon juice • water • vinegar • oil Solids • bicarbonate of soda • effervescent vitamin C • flour • coffee How could children record what they observed?

13. Making a volcano with bicarb and vinegar • Put 1 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda into a small container, then add ½ tablespoon of washing-up liquid and a few drops of red food colouring. • Place your volcano cone over the top • Using a measuring jug slowly pour vinegar into the bottle until you see foam rising to the top.

14. The volcano chemical reaction • The chemical reaction between bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) produces carbon dioxide gas, which forms bubbles in the dishwashing detergent. • The chemicals are non-toxic (though not tasty), so this project is a good choice for scientists of all ages!

15. The chemical reaction occurs in two steps 1. Acetic acid in vinegar reacts with sodium bicarbonate to form sodium acetate and carbonic acid. NaHCO3 + HC2H3O2 → NaC2H3O2 + H2CO3 2. Carbonic acid is unstable and undergoes a decomposition reaction to produce carbon dioxide gas: H2CO3 → H2O + CO2 3. The carbon dioxide escapes the solution as bubbles. The bubbles are heavier than air, so the carbon dioxide collects at the surface of the container or overflows it. In a sodium bicarbonate volcano, washing up liquid is added to collect the gas and form bubbles that flow somewhat like lava down the side of the 'volcano'. A dilute sodium acetate solution remains after the reaction.

16. What is yeast? • Yeasts are tiny egg shaped single celled fungi which can only be seen with a microscope. They are so small that 1 gram of yeast contains 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion) cells! • The most common species of yeast used in baking is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae which means ‘sugar eating brewer’ and it is an easy and safe microorganism to work with. • In baking each bit of yeast makes tiny gas bubbles - that puts millions of bubbles (holes) in our bread before it gets baked. http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/bread_science.html

17. Exploring dry yeast • Mix a tea spoon of yeast with a teaspoon of sugar and add some warm water. • Stir vigorously. • Watch. • What do you notice? • Consider adding more yeast or more sugar. • What have you learnt?

18. Prediction or Hypothesis? There are various definitions of predictions and hypotheses. In primary science a useful way to think about them is as follows: Prediction • This is a statement about what may happen in the future based on previous knowledge. • Dough made with 1gm of yeast and 1 gm of sugar rose 2cms. • Prediction – Dough made with 2gms of yeast and 2 gms of sugar will rise 4 cms.

19. Hypothesis or Prediction? Hypothesis • This is a statement put forward to attempt to explain what may happen. • The suggested explanation need not be correct, but it should be reasonable in terms of the evidence available and possible in terms of scientific concepts or principles. • Yeast is a living thing so it needs something to eat if it is going to grow. If it is fed sugar it will grow more than if it is not.

20. Identifying variables • When carrying out a fair test children need to identify and control the variables (the things that could be changed). • The independent variable is the one thing that is changed. Only one is changed so the scientist can see the effect of the change. • The dependent variable is what is being measured. • The control variables are the things that could be changed but which the scientist wants to keep the same.

21. A planning board for a fair test Yellow post-it (Key variable) Green post-it (Key variable) We will change We will measure or observe the effect it has on We will keep these things the same to make it fair Yellow post-it Yellow post-it Yellow post-it Yellow post-it Yellow post-it Yellow post-it

22. Using tables for recording • Make sure children understand what ‘table’ means in a science sense. • Teach them how to use and understand the information on them. • For example, when testing the rate of sugar dissolving in different liquids the children might create a table like this:

23. Repeat readings

24. Teaching drawing a graph What we measure Green post-it What we change Yellow post-it

25. Now try fair testing yourself Identify the variables: • How much yeast? • How much water? • What temperature of water? • How much sugar? • What type of sugar? • What else? Then decide what to keep the same and what to change. Carry out your test and record your result in a table then draw the graph.

26. The National Curriculum is a flawed document, so it is essential to enrich and extend your science provision.An example of doing this is by including problem solving activities as a regular part of your science curriculum.

28. Observe and critique a science lesson Discuss your observations of the lesson, including: • How clear the learning was • How the lesson was structured to build knowledge and understanding • What pedagogy was used and why • How engaged the children were

29. Assessing in Science Ofsted Outstanding criteria Teachers systematically and effectively check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where they may need to intervene and doing so with notable impact on the quality of learning.

30. Formative or Summative? • Formative and summative are not labels for different types or forms of assessment but describe how assessments are used. For example a task or activity is not formative unless the information it provides is actually used to take learning forward. • Formative is the use of day-to-day, often informal, assessments to explore pupils’ understanding so that the teacher can best decide how to help them to develop that understanding. It is an essential part of classroom pedagogy. • Summative is the summing-up of a pupil’s progress that can then be used for purposes ranging from providing information to parents or as part of the school accountability system. • All formative assessments can serve summative purposes. • Summative assessments can serve formative purposes but only do so when they are used take forward children’s learning.

31. Planning for assessment • Successful pedagogy involves thinking about the relationship between individual lessons and longer term outcomes. • Successful lesson plans identify key learning by focusing on learning intentions, success criteria (what the child will be able to do better at the end of the lesson that s/he couldn’t do as well at the start), activities to deepen thinking and resources. • Success criteria are what you, other adults, children are using to assess progress in the lesson.

32. Key Aspects of Assessment To be worth doing assessments must be: • Valid - the extent to which an assessment is well-founded and corresponds accurately to the real world. • Reliable - the degree to which the result of an assessment can be depended on to be accurate. • Manageable – can you do it all without collapsing!

35. Best Practice Assessment in Science Any assessment system must be: • Valid – is the assessment well-founded and does it correspond accurately to the real world. • Reliable - is the result of an assessment accurate. • Manageable – can it be completed reasonably in the normal day to day work of a teacher.

37. What makes effective assessment? Ongoing assessments which tell us how well children are learning in science are found in the dark blue layer.

38. The Teacher Layer

39. Teacher Layer • Thinking about the lesson you observed, which of these approaches were used?

40. The Pupil Layer • Thinking about the lesson you observed, which of these approaches were used?

42. Rocket Mice

43. Focussed assessment

44. Planning task • Identify the planning your school uses for science (long, medium and short term). • Write a brief summary of the planning process and identify the key features that you will need for your own science planning. • Bring task and examples for science day 4 to share.

45. Useful Internet sites This site has some interesting activities for KS2. • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/ The specific forces activities can be found at … • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/friction.shtml • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/magnets_springs.shtml