The BEST way to assess children's scientific understanding

Children may be familiar with the water cycle, but do they really understand some of the processes involved?

Our latest blog post is from Helen Harden who, thanks to funding from the Worshipful Company of Horners, has worked with other members of the CIEC team to develop the primary Best Evidence Science Teaching (BEST) diagnostic tools. These support teachers to assess children's understanding of important science concepts. Read on to find out more about one of the latest additions to this important bank of resources.

The water cycle is an important feature in the primary curriculum, but have you ever considered how the ways of thinking it develops are essential for future understanding of climate change and sustainability?

From observation of small-scale changes of state in the home or classroom, children must shift their thinking to the vastness of the oceans and clouds high above their heads. Instead of thinking about a single change of state, the children must understand a connected cycle that spans the whole surface of the Earth and the atmosphere above it. Some processes in the water cycle will be very familiar to children who have stood in the pouring rain or who have watched a rushing river.  However, the complete cycle includes a key process (evaporation) that is invisible. It is this way of thinking about a whole interconnected system, including both visible and invisible processes, that is a critical skill for future understanding of climate change and sustainability.

The Best Evidence Science Teaching  (BEST) 7-11 Water Cycle resources are free to download, and support children’s development of understanding about the more challenging aspects of the water cycle. The resources include diagnostic questions and prompts for discussion to identify misconceptions as well as ideas for investigations and other activities to help children develop a more mature understanding.

By laying a strong foundation of this core primary topic children will be better placed to develop their understanding of climate change and sustainability.

Examples of some of the activities included in this free to download resource.

BEST Primary Resources have been produced as a UYSEG project in collaboration with CIEC

Exploring STEM careers with Oak Academy resources

 We are proud to share a selection of ‘science careers’ lessons created by CIEC as part of the new primary science curriculum recently launched by Oak National Academy. 

The lessons are linked to the National Curriculum for primary science and encourage more children to feel that ‘science is for me.’ 

Children as young as Year 1 (5 and 6-year-olds) will learn about how some people use science every day as part of their job, and how science can be a job for everybody.

An extract from the Y1 unit on developing new materials

The lessons include opportunities for teachers to uncover and discuss any misconceptions children may have about who might work in a science related career. 

The Oak materials encourage children to discuss preconceptions about STEM careers.

They also encourage young children to consider a range of careers in science- related industries, as they begin to think about future aspirations with information such as... 

“If you like asking questions and finding out about the world around you, then you might like to have a career in science.”

For more information about these lessons, please get in touch with CIEC or visit The Oak National Academy primary science page to access the free primary units.

Young People's Book Prize activity sheets

 

 

Congratulations to Maggie Alderin Pocock who has recently been crowned the winner of the 2023 Young People’s Book Prize with her book of frequently asked questions about space ‘Am I made of stardust?’.

Did you know that CIEC writes resources every year to maximise the learning that is possible from all six of the shortlisted titles? There are separate pupil and teacher activity sheets. Between them, they have sections on relevant careers, on maths links and the profile of a relevant scientist, as well as several engaging science activities which will help teachers to make effective links with the science curriculum and the content of the books.  All of the investigations can be done as standalone activities or carried out as an in-depth sequence to develop pupil’s disciplinary and substantive knowledge. The sheets also contain information about how schools can apply for a Royal Society Partnership Grant of up to £3,000.

 Whether or not your school has been involved in the judging and whether or not you have access to the books in question, you will find that these free resources can have a positive impact on STEM learning in your class, so why don’t you take a look and let us know what you think?

We will send a copy of one of the books that has been shortlisted in the past five years to the first three schools to be in touch at ciec@york.ac.uk with information (and ideally pictures) of how they used the CIEC activitysheets in their schools. Additionally, the first 10 schools to get in touch will receive a hard copy of a full set of this year’s activity sheets.

Working Scientifically in the Primary Classroom: Progression of enquiry skills from EYFS to KS3

This document is FREE to download from the CIEC website

Just as important as teaching the substantive aspects of the curriculum is teaching the disciplinary aspects as children learn to think and act like scientists. Teachers tell us that they find it much harder to plan for progression and to assess children in this area and this is where our free resource ‘Working scientifically in the primary classroom: Progression of enquiry skills from EYFS to KS3’ comes in.

 

Skills can be tracked from one key stage to the next from EYFS to KS3

Skills can be tracked from one key stage to the next.  For example, ‘Make links and notice patterns in their experience’ (Characteristics of Effective Learning in EYFS) is tracked to ‘With guidance, they should begin to notice patterns and relationships’ (KS1 science program of study) and ‘Begin to look for naturally occurring patterns and relationships and decide what data to collect to identify them’ (Lower KS2 science programme of study). This enables teachers and subject leads to systematically track the skills throughout the primary age range and beyond.

I can statements for EYFS

Additionally, there is a poster for each key stage (EYFS, KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2) with ‘I Can’ statements which can be shared with the child, enabling them to be fully involved in their own assessment and progression. 

I can statements for Upper Key Stage 2 

The clear layout of this document supports teachers to plan lessons which enable children to show progress in their learning and add challenge for those children who are ready for it.  It also gives a framework that facilitates accurate assessment and empowers children to peer and self-assess working scientifically skills.

This booklet can be downloaded for free from the CIEC website.  Alternatively, if you would like to buy a hard copy they can be purchased from our online store for £3.20 (including P&P) for a single copy or £26.45 (including P&P) for a class set of 30.

Working with families

 

Stereotypes of 'mad scientists' negatively impact on the science capital of children and their families

In recent years teachers have become increasingly aware of the importance of developing children’s science capital by helping them to understand that science is relevant to their current and future lives and that scientists are ‘people like me’ rather than science being the preserve of a select few that fit prevailing stereotypes.  

Children from 3 to 93 will be able to join in with this activity which invites you to work out the best mixture for making bubbles.

At CIEC we believe that we not only need to think about the science capital of the children that we work with but also that of everyone around them. A particularly important influence on children is the family that they live with, so anything that we can do to raise the awareness and aspirations of family members is likely to have a positive impact on children.

In this exciting activity starch is extracted from potato peel to make ‘ooblek’; whatever your age we guarantee that you will learn something new!

One way to do this is to use our IndusTRY AT HOME activities. They are designed for use with families and are easily resourced at home.  They are interactive and engaging and link aspects of the primary science curriculum with real life contexts.

For this activity families are invited to compare different washing products as they learn that product development is an important role for some scientists

There are 18 different IndusTRY AT HOME sheets with a range of activities to suit the whole age range from nursery to Y6.  Teachers have told us that they find them more creative than traditional homework without impacting on their workload. Children have told us that they like collaborating with other family members and find the activities enjoyable. Parents report that they are easier to manage at home than activities that children do not want to do. All of the IndusTRY AT HOME activities are free to download from the CIEC website.

A Pinch of Salt

Today's post is brought to you by one of our advisory teachers, Jane Winter

The weather is getting colder, and our thoughts are turning to icy windscreens and slippery roads! As gritter lorries gear up for action, a useful way to link this seasonal change to the science curriculum is with CIEC’s A Pinch of Salt. This free resource provides a real life context in which children can apply learning objectives and practise vocabulary from the science curriculum. 

It's working! Watching the clear salt solution drip through the filter paper.

In one activity children are first invited to compare a sample of pure salt with some rock salt. They are asked to consider how they could extract salt that was pure enough to use on food from the rock salt that is used for gritting roads. The process starts by dissolving the rock salt sample in water before filtering it to remove all the undissolved solids. The water is then evaporated from the salt solution to leave behind salt. The evaporation can be sped up by leaving the solution on a radiator or by using a tealight. 

The resource contains all of the information that you need to carry out this easily resourced activity.

 If you would like to try this, or any other activity, from A Pinch of Salt you will find that it is fully supported with teachers' notes and activity sheets for children. There is also safety guidance including information about NOT actually using salt purified in this way on food and the safe use of tealights. We would love to hear about your experiences of using this, or any other CIEC resource, and will send a hard copy of our acclaimed 'Working Scientifically' to anyone who shares their experiences with us.

Out of this world science: linking your teaching to space exploration

 

This post is brought to you by Jane Winter who is one of our advisory teachers based in York and Lincolnshire

This week sees the launch of CIEC's latest IndusTRY AT HOME activity.  As teachers who have worked with us before will know, InusTRY AT HOME is a suite of activities that we have adapted to make user friendly for families.  Each one is based on one of our existing tried and tested science lessons.  They require minimal equipment that can be readily found around the home.  The instructions are written specifically with families, rather than trained teachers in mind.  

The whole set of activities has been very well received by teachers, families and children alike and we are told that they are used in a number of ways.  For example, individual activities being set as homework or the link to the whole page of activities being added to the school website.  Families have also stumbled across IndusTRY AT HOME on the internet and have accessed them independently of school.

Teachers have also told us that they use the activities in their day to day teaching, often sending the activity home after they have used it in the classroom.  Another way that these can be used in school is to do a related, but completely different, practical lesson.  Since all of the IndusTRY AT HOME activities are taken from one of our resources this is easy to do.  This latest activity, for example, is from our free to download publication Is Anyone Out There? which contains eight other activities as well as this one about investigating craters.

All of our free to download resources, including this one, can be found on our Primary Website

One of the activities from this publication that I have enjoyed doing with children is to give them different soil samples to test in the same way that scientists will test any samples that are brought back from Mars (recipes are provided in the resource for the preparation of the different samples).  This is an unusual and exciting way to approach the study of rocks and soils.  As well as investigating the properties of the different soil samples children test them for signs of life.  As you can imagine, there is great excitement when signs of life ARE found in one of the samples. If you would like to find out how to do this you will need to download the resource.

Another great activity from this publication is one which explores volcanos (while helping children to consolidate their understanding about changing materials).  I must tell you now that there is no truth to the rumour that the involvement of chocolate has any bearing on my enjoyment of this particular activity!

A teacher exploring volcanos at one of our CPD sessions.

I hope that I have tempted you to check out this lovely publications.  As ever, if you use it with your class we would LOVE to hear how you get on.  Don't forget, if you would like to be kept up to date with what is happening at CIEC you can sign up for our newsletter by emailing ciec@york.ac.uk.  We will never send more than one email a month and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Pipeline shapes: Which shape is best?

This month’s blog is brought to you by Clare Docking, one of our advisory teachers who works with industry and schools in the East of England.

Most, children are very observant and will have noticed pipes in their everyday environment. They will be able to tell you that some pipes carry water or sewage. They may have noticed drainage pipes by roads or pipes leading to gutters. This activity prompts them to consider a substance that is often piped to our houses - natural gas.

Children enjoy practical challenges and this one asks them to construct and test paper pipes to investigate which shape (cylinder, cuboid, and triangular prism) is best for a pipe. In doing this, they are also led to think about the properties of gas. Gas is all around us, but children may not fully understand its properties as it is not tangible like liquids and solids. By blowing up a long balloon inside a paper pipe the children can observe what happens. They see the air inflating the balloon and changing the shape of the paper pipe. This provides an ideal opportunity to explore the properties of gas further and explain that gas under pressure is naturally trying to expand and push out in all directions .Cylindrical pipes are best as the pressure pushing outwards is evenly distributed around a cylinder and does not distort the shape. This investigation is easy to set up as it involves using easy to obtain resources.

Three, two, one – investigate!

• Children love a challenge.  Tell them that they are engineers for this investigation and an important part of an engineer’s job is finding answers to problems by carrying out practical investigations and tests.
• Start the fair test investigation by telling the children that scientists at Seabed Engineering would like their help. The company lays pipelines on the seabed for other companies to collect natural gas from under the sea and send it back to shore inside the pipes. The long pipes which they lay along the seabed are cylindrical in shape, but they would like to know if there are any other shapes of pipes which might be better than cylinders. 
• First, explore the idea of ‘pipes’ with the children. Where have they seen pipes before? Discuss examples in their immediate environment and the pipes they can see in the world around them.  What substances do pipes carry? Tell them about the pipes carrying natural gas from the seabed.
• Have all the resources to hand and talk through their challenge with them, showing them how to cut out the paper pipes using the templates and then how to inflate the balloon inside the pipe.
• Once the children have decided on what they need to keep the same for a fair test, they need to consider how they can measure results. How will they measure the success of the differently shaped pipes? The activity lends itself to a variety of measuring and recording methods, so it is ideal if you are working with different age groups.  They could draw, photograph, or describe what they see happening or use post-its to jot down ideas and conclusions.
• The children will love to report back findings to the class and ultimately to Seabed Engineering in a variety of ways e.g. videos, reports, letters, or photos with captions

Full details of the activity can be found in our free resource and incudes teachers’ notes, children’s activity sheets and national curriculum links.

Top Tips

Here are some tips to make your investigation a success:

• This activity is perfectly suited for COVID secure working as it can easily be carried out individually, in pairs or small bubbles.
• Make sure the joins in the pipes are securely fastened with Sellotape.
• Put the balloon inside the pipe and then gently inflate the balloon with the balloon pump.
• Tell the children not to over-inflate or burst the balloons.

We have produced a linked IndusTRY at home activity for children to share with their families.  Why don't you put a link on your school website? 

Fun with Foam: What Makes Good Foam?

 Children love to play with foam, whether when mixing bubble bath and water in the bath to create the biggest foam possible or using shaving foam for sensory play when younger, as in this picture.

In this fun investigation the children make foam and then devise a way of measuring it. It is easy to set up as it involves using everyday household materials for the foam production - a simple mixture of soap, oil and water for the test ‘sample’ and commercially produced bubble bath for comparison.  Children enjoy predicting which product they think will create the biggest and longest lasting foam and then testing to see if they are right. This activity will prompt them to consider the importance of carrying out a fair test.

Full details of activity can be found in our free resource and incudes teachers’ notes, children’s activity sheets and national curriculum links

Three, two, one – investigate!

• Children love a challenge, so start the fair test investigation by telling them that scientists at Sumptuous Skincare Ltd have sent a sample of their new bubble bath. They would like the children to use a method of foam production to test how the sample they have produced compares with one or more known brands of creamy bath foam.
• First, explore the idea of ‘foam’ with the children. Where have they seen foam before? Give them some examples, such as shaving foam, bath foam, foam on top of milky coffee or foam on the sea on a windy day.  What qualities does foam have and how is it different from lather or bubbles? How do the children think that foam is produced?
• Have a selection of baths foams to hand, including the pre-made ‘test sample.’ Ask them how they are going to ensure that they test all the different foams so that all conditions are kept the same. How will they make the foam? (Ways to produce foam include blowing through a straw, stirring, whisking, beating or shaking).
• Once the children have decided on what they need to keep the same for a fair test, they need to consider how they might measure results. How will they measure the success of the foam created? The activity lends itself to a variety of measuring and recording methods, so it is ideal if you are working with different age groups. 
• The children will love to report back findings to the class and ultimately to Sumptuous Skincare in a variety of ways such as videos, reports, letters or photos with captions.

 Top Tips

Here are some tips to make your investigation a success:

• This activity is perfectly suited for COVID secure working as it can easily be carried out individually, in pairs or small bubbles as equipment is inexpensive and easily available.
• Encourage the children to spot mistakes in their own processes and hold mini plenaries to discuss these e.g. did they use the same number of whisks to create the foam?
• One easy way to conduct this investigation is to mark graduations of 100 ml up the side of a two-litre pop bottle. The bath foam and 300 ml of water are added, the lid tightened, and the bottle shaken vigorously. Ten shakes later, how much foam is produced?
• For accurate measurement, use a pipette or syringe to add the soap to water.

This month’s blog is brought to you by Clare Docking, one of our advisory teachers who works with industry and schools in the East of England.

What's in a mince pie?

 

 

This blog post is brought to you by Nicky Waller, one of our advisory teachers who works across the North East of England.

As we approach the festive season, we are undoubtedly looking forward to indulging in our favourite food and drink associated with this time of year. But, have you ever stopped to wonder why certain foods are associated with winter celebrations? Let’s think about the mince pie – a popular sweet treat found on many December shopping lists . . .

Mince pies are of English origin, believed to have been made to celebrate Jesus. They were traditionally oblong in shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby and it was said to be good luck if you ate one mince pie each day during the Twelve days of Christmas.

The ingredients of a mince pie are traceable to the 13th century. Returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits, nuts and spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Like Christmas puddings, mince pies were originally filled with actual meat, such as partridge, pheasant, rabbit, pigeon and hare.

Over time, the meat was eliminated and they became the small sweet pie we now know. The ingredients today may still be encased in suet, which is mutton or beef fat, however, the pastry is now typically made using butter and you can also find vegan alternatives.

 CIEC’s Kitchen Concoctions publication includes the activity: What’s in a mince pie? to enable children to develop their understanding of mixtures and types of change, more specifically to understand that some mixtures are permanently changed into new things and others can be separated back to the original ingredients. Giving children a real mince pie to ‘deconstruct’ is a great way for them to explore and learn about this.

 Top tip: Interspersing probing questions with practical activity works well for this activity:

 Is your pie just one thing or a mixture of things? cut a mince pie in half to reveal the pastry and the mincemeat filling, thus showing that it is made up of a mixture of at least two separate things.

 

 Can the mixture of pastry and mincemeat be separated? this can be done easily by scooping the mincemeat out with a spoon onto a paper towel or plate.

 

 Is the pastry just one thing or a mixture of things? challenge children to separate the ingredients in pastry and discuss how they have been changed permanently with heat during baking.

 Is the mincemeat just one thing or a mixture of things? separate the ingredients of mincemeat into separate piles on the paper towel or plate using cocktail sticks. A hand lens might also be useful.

 

 

 Top tip: it helps to give children a large spoon of mincemeat from an additional jar rather than the pie itself as there does not tend to be much filling in individual pies these days! You could photocopy the list of ingredients as a secondary source of information to help children to identify what they have found.

 This activity is easy to resource and uses consumables that can be disposed of safely when completed. It is engaging for children to carry out individually or in pairs whilst working safely, facing forwards in the classroom.

 Top tip: Jars of mincemeat can be bought from supermarkets all year round so you do not need to wait until December to try this activity. If you are struggling to find actual mince pies, you could bake them yourself, using CIEC’s accompanying activity: Baking mince pies.

Learning about separating mixtures and different types of change links perfectly with the National Curriculum for England statutory requirement for the Year 5 ‘Properties and Changes of Materials’ topic in science which states that pupils should:

•  use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated.
• explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and this kind of change is not usually reversible.

 There are many opportunities for children to work scientifically, such as reporting and presenting findings from enquiries in oral and written forms.

 

Full safety guidance is provided in the detailed teacher notes which can be found with the free resource Kitchen Concoctions. Additional COVID-secure advice can be found in the document CLEAPSS Practical Activities in a Bubble which urges schools to return to delivering a broad, balanced and full curriculum, especially for practical subjects like science, D&T, and art. This means getting back to doing hands-on activities, investigations and enquiries. Remember that using equipment is allowed because it’s essential for delivering the curriculum and to support learning in practical subjects.

This is a lovely activity to share with families so we have produced an IndusTRY AT HOME resource that you can share.  Why don't you put a link on your school website?
 

 

 

Filter fun

This month’s blog is brought to you by Clare Docking, one of our advisory teachers who works with industry and schools in the East of England.

Children love to play with mixtures combining solids and liquids to make something different.  In this activity we take this one step further and use filters to reverse this process and separate out the solid again. This investigation is easy to set up as it involves using everyday household materials for the filtering and uses a simple mixture of flour and water for the solution.  Children will enjoy predicting which filter they think will do the best job of separating out the solid from the liquid and then testing to see if they are right. This activity will prompt them to consider the properties of materials and why some make good filters, and some don’t.

Three, two, one – investigate!

• Children love a challenge, so start the investigation by telling the children that a local bio tech company needs their help to find out which material makes the best filter. You could explain that medicines are grown in solutions and then the ‘solids’ grown need to be separated again afterwards. Brainstorm ideas on everyday filters e.g. colanders, tea strainers,plug hole filters.
• Give the children a choice of filters e.g. kitchen roll, tissue, cotton fabric, J cloth, and a commercially produced filter paper such those for coffee machines. Ask them how they are going to ensure that they test all the different filters so that all conditions are kept the same except for changing the filter used?
• Encourage the children to draw on their own experiences when thinking about the task. Do they think any of the filters might go soggy? Are some of the materials more tightly woven and will this be good or bad for filtering? How much do they pour at once and how do they ensure no spillage? Does it matter if the solution is lumpy? This is a good opportunity to bring in previous learning about how liquids and solids behave and to examine the difference between a ‘solution’ and a ‘suspension’. 
• Once the children have decided on what they need to keep the same for a fair test, they need to consider how they can measure results. How will they measure the success of the filter?  This activity lends itself to a variety of measuring and recording methods.  They could, for example, measure the clarity of the liquid produced, or the amount of flour in the filter. Ask the children to time how long the filtering process takes with each material – how might the time taken by each filter be relevant to the bio-tech company when they decide which filter to use?
• The children will love to report back findings to the class and ultimately the bio-tech company in a variety of ways e.g. videos, reports, letters or photos with captions.

Full details of activity can be found in our free resource and incudes teachers’ notes,

children’s activity sheets and national curriculum links.

 

Top Tips

Here are some tips to make your investigation a success:  

• This activity is perfectly suited for COVID secure working as it can easily be carried individually, in pairs or small bubbles as equipment is inexpensive and easily available.
• Encourage the children to spot mistakes in their own processes and hold mini plenaries to discuss these. For example, is any liquid running down the side of the filter when they pour it?
• Allow plenty of time for the investigation as some of the filters work more slowly than others. While the children are watching and waiting for the filtering to take place, encourage them to record ideas about their testing process on post-its or devise a table to record results.
• If you don’t have any funnels or containers, simply cut the top off a plastic bottle (e.g. bottled water) and in an instant you have the container and funnel (NB. Be aware of sharp edges – cover with tape if necessary).

If you would like to share this activity with children's families, why don't you put a link to this related IndusTRY at home activity on your school website?

What’s in a Fire Extinguisher?

This blog post is brought to you by Nicky Waller, one of our advisory teachers who works across the North East of England.

In this very safety-conscious age, where rules and regulations determine very strictly what we are and are not allowed to do, lighting fires and watching different materials burn might feel like a distant memory to an older generation. As a result, primary-aged children today may be less likely to know about what causes fire and what action to take to reduce fire hazards.

 CIEC’s activity: ‘What’s in a fire extinguisher?’ begins with a class discussion of extinguishers, buckets and blankets, and their use in putting out fires. Children will then enjoy the practical aspect of modelling for themselves how one type of real fire extinguisher works. 

Children model how a CO2 fire extinguisher works by creating carbon dioxide gas from a solid (bicarbonate of soda) – liquid (vinegar) mixture, to extinguish a candle flame.

This activity links perfectly with the National Curriculum for England statutory requirement for year 5 pupils in science which states that pupils should be taught to: ‘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 bicarbonate of soda.’

Proving to be a favourite with Key Stage Two teachers, the activity requires simple equipment (as shown in the diagram) and minimal set up time to provide an almost instant wow factor! Full safety guidance is provided in the detailed teacher notes.

Probing class discussions will help children to make links between this ‘table top’ classroom activity and the real world including some of the jobs related to fire safety and awareness. These sorts of links help to raise children’s science capital as they see how the science that they do in school has real life applications and is relevant to their lives both now and in the future.

To coincide with this blog post, we have published a new IndusTRY at Home resource for you share with families.  Why don’t you put a link on your school website?

For a broader set of activities linked to this topic, have a look at our free resource Kitchen Concoctions.  which expands the wider topic of ‘kitchen chemistry’ by looking at creating mixtures, separating mixtures, reversible and irreversible changes, fair testing and observations over different periods of time.