Science
Curriculum Intent – Science
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie
Powerful Knowledge
Science at Leeds East Academy provides students with the opportunity to consider the greatest questions asked, engage in exciting and interesting practical activities and learn about the world beyond what they currently know. Students learn powerful knowledge needed to carry them through an ever-changing society and universe. Science is taught through a knowledge-rich curriculum that encourages a love of learning, with key themes embedded and built upon throughout the 5 year mastery programme, as part of the academy’s ‘Enterprise Strand’. Students become high performing learners through the development of a range of Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics focusing specifically on Meta-thinking and linking scientific concepts together.
Powerful Knowledge in Science:
- We explore the key concepts in Biology, students learn about life! Students are taught core ideas such as cells and organisation in humans and other organisms; how to look after their own bodies including nutrition, the effects of drugs and disease; how to look after our local environment and the planet on a wider scale.
- Students learn about the fundamentals of Chemistry: students learn about atoms as a building block of matter; properties of materials including future materials; about fuels and the impact of these on the Earth.
- Students learn about the physical processes underpinning the universe: students learn about Newton’s laws and motion; gravity and other forces and how they cause objects to interact; the sun as a source of all energy on Earth and how we can harness and transfer the energy to make it useful.
- Students develop intellectual confidence when they are provided with a broad understanding of relevant scientific issues on a personal, global and universal scale which allows students to critically engage with science on a deeper level; from articulating their personal views based on evidence of climate change to strategy planning to analyse the credibility of sources of information.
Curriculum Features
Science at Leeds East Academy provides students with equal exposure to Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Students learn science in blocks of powerful knowledge, that build upon and develop ideas over time. In Year 7, students begin with the smallest ideas in science: elements and particle theory. Students learn how to apply scientific ideas to phenomena they can see and experience, before developing these ideas over time to more abstract concepts such as energy and atoms. Students learn about organisms, including humans, and refer to and build upon ideas taught in Year 7 throughout the whole 5 year curriculum. The fundamentals of science: cells, atomic structure, forces and energy are interleaved within the curriculum to develop fluency in these key areas and students develop automaticity in the key areas and skills. Students are taught how to read and use new scientific vocabulary and are given opportunity to develop their oracy through discussion and debate.
Practical science is a huge feature of the scientific curriculum; from Year 7 students are exposed to real laboratory equipment and experiences in order to develop the skills all scientists need. Students use the scientific method from the moment they join us in Year 7 through to when they leave us at the end of Year 11. Students learn the correct ways to approach experimental skills, including how scientific theories relate to practical work, how to plan an experiment that is valid and fair and how to make and record observations. Students develop scientific thinking by evaluating risks in science experiments, examining the everyday and technical applications of science and considering the ethical implications that may arise in their work. Students become skilled in analysis and evaluation by presenting their own findings using graphs and charts, understanding and interpreting data and linking findings to a hypothesis. Students learn the correct use of scientific language and definitions, can use prefixes when discussing orders of magnitude and learn and use SI units appropriately to enhance their literacy.
Cross Curricular & Wider Experiences
Science is everything – from how you have ended up here, to the rain falling in the Amazon Rainforest. We encourage empathy for the world and universe and ensure the learning of science is not a set of independent, stand-alone facts, but as a means of understanding and engaging with ourselves, the natural world and our impact upon the planet. Science at Leeds East Academy is taught through real-life, exciting contexts. We know our students, their life experiences and backgrounds and seek help students to explain themselves, the natural world and their own impact upon the planet.
We inspire students and help them to develop agility by exposing them to the newest technologies, by linking our teaching to the amazing careers available in the field of STEM and by giving students the opportunity to learn about the greatest scientists of our time, from Edward Jenner’s invention of the vaccine to the work Rosalind Franklin did in discovering the double helix.
Science is interwoven with other subjects in school. We work closely with Maths to ensure we teach mathematical skills such as using and rearranging formulae is taught consistently across the school. Our teaching of the great people of science links closely to the History curriculum and the development of medicine over time. We teach the science that underpins many aspects of the geography curriculum including climate change and the structure of the Earth.
Science at Leeds East Academy offers students the opportunity to be a part of our amazing STEM programme. Through their science lessons, students can celebrate World Space Week in October, DNA Day in April and World Oceans Day in June. Students learn about some amazing female scientists and engineers on International Women’s Day in March and celebrate how science can be used to make the world a better place on World Science Day for Peace and Development in November. Students can attend a weekly club that allows students to experience science in a different way. We also offer competitions, trips and assemblies as part of British Science Week, where we celebrate the impact Britain has had on the scientific world.
For further information regarding the science offer at Leeds East Academy, please contact Dr Katebe - katebe.m@whiteroseacademies.org