New to Year 2 Training Department of Children’s Services New to Year 2 (Science) Training Friday 19 th October 2012 TICK (Keighley) Children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. They are active builders of knowledge – little scientists who construct their own theories of the world. Piaget cited in Singer and Revenson (1996)

Expectations “Fun” “Play” “Achieve” “Be more independent” “Learn new things” Level 3 in science is about… Putting forward questions and suggestions about how to find things out. Making relevant observations & measurements & recording these. Describing & explaining what has been found out.

Imagine the scene, a small group of children huddle excitedly around a pristine new water tray, the anticipation on their faces only too obvious.The supervising adult reaches for an object from a small uninspiring selection on a nearby table and utters those immortal words ‘will it float or will it sink?’ The children offer their hypothesis and wait to see of they are correct. As the object duly sinks, it is placed on a pre-prepared chart and the process begins over again! Over a shot time, which probably seems like an age to the children involved, the process is repeated and with each passing object the initial excitement, curiosity and enthusiasm slips away…not only from the faces of the children but from the presiding adult. Science has yet again become a chore to be endured and not a fun experience to be enjoyed! Department of Children’s Services

Session objectives: To explore some activities that will capture your children’s natural curiosity for the world. To consider how these activities can be used in ‘teaching science’. To share ways in which we can ‘record’ learning in science. To collect ideas and resources for use back in your own schools.

Enquiry & Elimination Can I…(eat it?) Does it…(bend?) Has it… (got legs?) Is it… (rough?)

Encouraging our children to RIOT! R = Research I = Investigate O = Observe T = Think

“let me out!”

Tip your objects onto a large sheet of paper Sort them in as many ways as you can. Record the groups you sorted them into. Can you sort you objects into just two groups, then three, then four etc. Record your groups. Can you order your objects? How did you do this? Can you play odd one out with your objects? Anything else you could do with your objects?

Encouraging description in Science (literacy)

Recording Learning in Science

Additional thougts… Investigation stations (indoors & out) Finding-out & challenge boards Role play Your outdoor environment Science and stories Science in partnership with parents

‘ I don’t know…let’s see if we can find out’ ‘Let’s try it shall we?’

“You can teach a child a lesson for a day; but if you teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” Clay P Bedford