Working Scientifically Skills
The working scientifically statements for each phase in the science National Curriculum for England (Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2) are what we assess children against. However, in order to provide schools with learning intentions that can be used during lessons and shared with children so that they develop a common language for talking about how they work as scientists, PLAN has broken down the working scientifically statements into 8 PLAN Working Scientifically Skills which are shown below. Some of them only feature in the National Curriculum in Key Stage 2 and these have been indicated.
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Asking questions
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Planning an enquiry (Key Stage 2 only)
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Making predictions (Key Stage 2 only)
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Gathering data
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Recording data
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Presenting data (Key Stage 2 only)
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Drawing conclusions
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Evaluating an enquiry (Key Stage 2 only)
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The table below shows how these PLAN Working Scientifically Skills align with the working scientifically skills most commonly used by schools with their pupils in order to demonstrate that the new resources support the teaching of the working scientifically skills whatever skills schools choose to use.
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​​​​​​​​Working Scientifically Matrices
To support the teaching and assessment of these skills, there will be a Working Scientifically Matrix for each PLAN Working Scientifically Skill in each year-group (Years 2, 4 and 6 to follow later in the year). Each Matrix provides the key learning for that skill, as well as working scientifically activity pages that focus on the different elements of the key learning and the expected outcomes for each that a child needs to demonstrate to be secure. Each working scientifically activity page features annotated example(s) of work that illustrate how children’s work can be assessed against the expected outcomes for that element of the key learning and are intended to support teachers to model that element of the skill effectively to children, as well as providing a benchmark against which to assess their work. It is not necessary for children to have demonstrated all the key learning in each year-group, just a sufficient amount so it is possible to provide evidence for assessment of all the key learning by the end of the phase.
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In the 'Teacher' section of this website, teachers can access the matrix for each skill individually in each year-group or they can download all the matrices for all the skills for their year-group as a document. The matrices for each year-group are below.
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Progression in Working Scientifically Skills for Key Stages 1 & 2
To show how the key learning for the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills from the Working Scientifically Matrices build across the phases from Key Stage 1 to the end of Key Stage 2, there is a Progression in Working Scientifically Skills for Key Stages 1 & 2.​ To download the Progression in Working Scientifically Skills for Key Stages 1 & 2, click on the image below.
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Planning Working Scientifically for Key Stages 1 & 2
To support planning the teaching of the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills, the Planning Working Scientifically documents (Years 2, 4 and 6 to follow later in the year) list the working scientifically activities for each year-group, that are included in the Working Scientifically Matrices, organised by the topics in that year-group. These activities are the ones that most frequently feature in schemes of work. The activities included are not an exhaustive list of working scientifically activities, so the Word documents can be edited to remove and add activities as required.
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Many of these working scientifically activities can be used to teach a number of PLAN Working Scientifically Skills. Where, in the Working Scientifically Matrices, an activity is used to illustrate more than one PLAN Working Scientifically Skill, the document indicates this and it is for the teacher to choose which to focus on during the activity. The PLAN Working Scientifically Skills included for any working scientifically activity should not be taken as definitive. It is possible that the activity can be used to teach other skills, so the Word documents can be edited to remove and add skills as required.
You will notice that not every topic in a year-group lends itself to teaching all the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills, so it is important to bear this in mind when planning out where particular skills will be taught through the year. Teachers should not expect to complete all of the working scientifically activities featured in the documents with their children. They should use them to select enough opportunities, across the year, for their children to learn and practise the skill sufficiently to become secure in using it independently by the end of the phase.​
The Planning Working Scientifically documents are below.
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Assessing Working Scientifically for Key Stages 1 & 2
To enable teachers to use the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills to assess children against the National Curriculum working scientifically statements, the Assessing Working Scientifically document demonstrates, for each phase, how the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills cover the working scientifically statements from the National Curriculum, allowing teachers to link the formative assessment of individual skills to make summative judgements.​ To download the Assessing Working Scientifically document, click on the image below.
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Progression in Working Scientifically for EYFS
The three characteristics of effective learning from the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage are the foundations on which the working scientifically skills build in Key Stage 1. Informed by them and the working scientifically statements from the National Curriculum, PLAN has created a set of PLAN Working Scientifically Skills for EYFS (see below) that translate the characteristics of effective learning into the foundations of working scientifically.
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While children are playing and exploring, teachers should be modelling, encouraging and supporting them to do the following:
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show curiosity and ask questions
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make observations using their senses and simple equipment
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make direct comparisons
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record their observations by drawing, taking photographs, using sorting rings or boxes and, in Reception, on simple tick sheets
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use their observations to help them to answer their questions
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talk about what they have done and found out
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identify, sort and group.
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The Progression in Working Scientifically for EYFS shows how the Development Matters statements, that relate to the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills for EYFS, build across Nursery and Reception and are linked to the PLAN Working Scientifically Skills for Key Stage 1, which are based on the National Curriculum in England. ​To download the Progression in Working Scientifically Skillls for EYFS, click on the image below.​​​
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