Year 6 Science Curriculum

The National Curriculum for Science in Year 6

There are five programmes of study that children in Year 6 are required to be taught:

• Living things and their habitats
• Animals including humans
• Evolution and inheritance
• Light
• Electricity

In addition to this, children throughout KS2 should be taught a series of 'working scientifically' objectives that should be taught in conjunction with the other programmes of study.

Living things and their habitats

In Year 6, children should be taught to:

• describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals
• give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.

Animals including humans

In Year 6, children should be taught to:

• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
• describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.

Evolution and inheritance

In Year 6, children should be taught to:

• recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
• recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
• identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Light

In Year 6, children should be taught to:

• recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines  use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye
• explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.

Electricity

In Year 6, children should be taught to:

• associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
• compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
• use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

Working scientifically

The 'working scientifically' objectives are not intended to be taught separately to the other programmes of study, but rather to be embedded throughout the Year 6 Science curriculum.

During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:

• planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
• reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
• identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

As well as being taught within the other programmes of study, these 'working scientifically' objectives also provide an excellent opportunity to extend children's scientific knowledge and understanding beyond the curriculum. These objectives can be used as the basis for further scientific enquiry or investigation.

For example, in our Great British Scientists scheme of work for Year 6, children explore some of the most famous British scientists and their contributions to scientific understanding, such as Anning, Hawking and Newton. Using the 'working scientifically' objectives as the basis for these lessons, children can work beyond the National Curriculum to explore areas of Science they wouldn't normally explore in Year 6. For instance, in lesson 5 of this series, children take on the role of Alexander Fleming as they plan an experiment to test his theory that mould can kill bacteria.