Introduction to PLAN

 

Planning and assessment of knowledge

To plan successfully, it is important to know what children have been taught previously that is linked to the topic that you are teaching. The Knowledge Matrices indicate where content that is linked to each topic in each year-group has been taught in previous years.

 

Having identified the linked knowledge content from previous years, this information can be used to plan initial activities to engage that prior learning. You may find it useful to look at the Knowledge Examples of Work for previous year-groups to identify suitable activities that could be used to remind children of their prior learning.

 

It is also good practice to check tracking data to identify children that were not secure when the linked learning was taught. Specific attention can be given to these children during the initial activity to ensure they are now secure.

 

It is important to be clear what knowledge and vocabulary children need to learn. The Knowledge Matrices provide this information. Activities can then be selected that will best support the children to become secure in the knowledge.

 

When children have engaged in sufficient activities to have become secure in the knowledge, it is time to reflect on their learning. The Knowledge Examples of Work show the learning of one child that is secure in the knowledge and can be used as a benchmark against which to assess children's work.

 

Children that are not secure in the knowledge can then be given additional activities to provide them with further opportunities to show that they are secure, possibly gathering evidence in a different way, for example, verbally in a small group context. Children that are secure can be given enrichment activities to broaden their thinking, while being careful not to stray into the content taught in later year-groups (also provided in the Knowledge Matrices).

 

Planning and assessment of working scientifically

To support teachers’ understanding of the working scientifically statements in the National Curriculum in England, PLAN has broken down the working scientifically statements into 8 PLAN Working Scientifically Skills (some of which only feature in Key Stage 2) which provide schools with learning intentions that can be used during lessons and can be shared with children so that they develop a common language for talking about how they work as scientists.

 

To support the teaching and assessment of these skills, there is a Working Scientifically Matrix for the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills in each phase (Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2). Each matrix provides the key learning for the skills in that phase as well as the expected outcomes that a pupil would need to demonstrate to be secure.

 

The Working Scientifically Examples of Work provide annotated examples of work of children who are secure in the different elements of the key learning and the expected outcomes for the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills for that phase. They can be used to support teachers to model each element of the skills effectively to children.

 

It is important that teachers plan to teach the full range of working scientifically skills for their phase in each year-group. However, it is not necessary for pupils to have demonstrated all the key learning in each year-group, just a sufficient amount so that it is possible to provide evidence for assessment of the key learning by the end of the phase.

 

To help schools plan the coverage of the working scientifically statements in the National Curriculum, the Planning Working Scientifically documents identify where, in the topics for each year-group, there are opportunities to teach the different PLAN Working Scientifically Skills. They do this by listing the working scientifically activities for each topic in each year-group, that most frequently feature in schemes of work, and indicating which of the skills they can be used to teach as well as the most likely elements of the ‘Key learning’ for those skills. Many of the working scientifically activities can be used to teach more than one of the skills, so schools will not only need to decide which working scientifically activities to do with their children but also which skill(s) to focus on.

 

When children have engaged in sufficient activities to have become secure in a skill, they should be assessed performing the skill independently against the ‘Key learning’ and ‘Expected outcomes’ in the relevant Working Scientifically Matrix. The Working Scientifically Examples of Work can be used as a benchmark against which to assess.

 

Once the skills have been assessed, they can be used to support summative assessment against the National Curriculum working scientifically statements. The Assessing Working Scientifically document indicates how each statement relates to the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills.

 

Health and safety

Before undertaking any of the practical activities included in the PLAN resources, teachers must engage with the guidance and up-to-date advice from their health and safety adviser/organisation on how to do so safely. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, contact CLEAPSS or whoever provides your school with equivalent health and safety advice.

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