Science content and ICT at Key Stages 1 and 2

The following is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but an indication of some ways in which ICT might enhance teaching and learning of Science content. There is a differentiation between KS1 and KS2 ICT activities, but the appropriateness of activities to different age-ranges and abilities within the Key Stages is left to the reader's professional judgement.

To find references to particular types of software or ICT resources on this page, use the Find... command in the Edit menu to search for the following keywords: wordprocessor, wordbank, DTP, graphics, drawing, sensor, sensors, framework, graphing, database, spreadsheet, online, CDROM, website, websites, encyclopaedia

Key stage 1 

 

Science National Curriculum content	Ways in which ICT can enhance teaching and learning
Sc2 Life processes and living things
Life processes
1. Pupils should be taught:
a) the differences between things that are living and things that have never been alive	Use a wordprocessor to keep a simple diary about a class pet - record its habits and patterns of behaviour. Use a drawing or simple mapping package (eg Local Studies) to record plants and evidence of animal life in school grounds.
b) that animals, including humans, move, feed, grow, use their senses and reproduce
c) to relate life processes to animals and plants found in the local environment.
Humans and other animals
2. Pupils should be taught:
a) to recognise and compare the main external parts of the bodies of humans and other animals	Use a framework program (eg My World) to add labels to parts of human and animal bodies
b) that humans and other animals need food and water to stay alive	Use a graphing package to make graphs of favourite foods or foods eaten over a period of time
c) that taking exercise and eating the right types and amounts of food help humans to keep healthy
d) about the role of drugs as medicines
e) how to treat animals with care and sensitivity	Search for information about pet care using websites, such as RSPCA and AVMA
f) that humans and other animals can produce offspring and that these offspring grow into adults
g) about the senses that enable humans and other animals to be aware of the world around them.	Use sound or light sensors linked to simple graphical displays to illustrate how eye and ear work
Green plants
3. Pupils should be taught:
a) to recognise that plants need light and water to grow
b) to recognise and name the leaf, flower, stem and root of flowering plants	Use a framework program (eg My World) to add labels to parts of flowering plants
c) that seeds grow into flowering plants.	Record the growth of plants from seed over time using a graphing package
Variation and classification
4. Pupils should be taught to:
a) recognise similarities and differences between themselves and others, and to treat others with sensitivity	Pupils enter personal data into a simple class database and create graphs of hair colour, eye colour, etc
b) group living things according to observable similarities and differences.	Use a simple branching database program to sort and classify living things
Living things in their environment
5. Pupils should be taught to:
a) find out about the different kinds of plants and animals in the local environment	Record information about plants and minibeasts in school grounds in table form. Use a database or graphing package to store and graph the data. Use a drawing or simple mapping package (eg Local Studies) to record plants and evidence of animal life in school grounds.
b) identify similarities and differences between local environments and ways in which these affect animals and plants that are found there
c) care for the environment.
Sc3 Materials and their properties
Grouping materials
1. Pupils should be taught to:
a) use their senses to explore and recognise the similarities and differences between materials
b) sort objects into groups on the basis of simple material properties [for example, roughness, hardness, shininess, ability to float, transparency and whether they are magnetic or non-magnetic]	Use a simple branching database program to sort and classify common types of material. Use a framework program (eg My World) to sort pictures of objects or materials into groups. Use a wordprocessor with a wordbank to describe simple properties of materials.
c) recognise and name common types of material [for example, metal, plastic, wood, paper, rock] and recognise that some of them are found naturally
d) find out about the uses of a variety of materials [for example, glass, wood, wool] and how these are chosen for specific uses on the basis of their simple properties.
Changing materials
2. Pupils should be taught to:
a) find out how the shapes of objects made from some materials can be changed by some processes, including squashing, bending, twisting and stretching
b) explore and describe the way some everyday materials [for example, water, chocolate, bread, clay] change when they are heated or cooled.	Make a database of everyday materials to record how they change when heated or cooled.
Sc4 Physical processes
Electricity
1. Pupils should be taught:
a) about everyday appliances that use electricity
b) about simple series circuits involving batteries, wires, bulbs and other components [for example, buzzers, motors]
c) how a switch can be used to break a circuit.
Forces and motion
2. Pupils should be taught:
a) to find out about, and describe the movement of, familiar things [for example, cars going faster, slowing down, changing direction]	Use a wordprocessor with a wordbank to describe the movement of familiar things.
b) that both pushes and pulls are examples of forces
c) to recognise that when things speed up, slow down or change direction, there is a cause [for example, a push or a pull].
Light and sound
3. Pupils should be taught:
Light and dark
a) to identify different light sources, including the Sun	Use a light sensor linked to simple graphical display to compare the brightness of different light sources.
b) that darkness is the absence of light
Making and detecting sounds
c) that there are many kinds of sound and sources of sound	Use a sound sensor linked to simple graphical display to measure sound levels at different locations.
d) that sounds travel away from sources, getting fainter as they do so, and that they are heard when they enter the ear.	Use a sound sensor linked to simple graphical display to measure the level of sound at increasing distances from a source.

Key stage 2

Sc2 Life processes and living things
Life processes
1. Pupils should be taught:
a) that the life processes common to humans and other animals include nutrition, movement, growth and reproduction	Research into aspects of life processes using online resources.
b) that the life processes common to plants include growth, nutrition and reproduction
c) to make links between life processes in familiar animals and plants and the environments in which they are found.
Humans and other animals
2. Pupils should be taught:
Nutrition
a) about the functions and care of teeth	Use a DTP package to create a poster about maintaining healthy teeth - use clipart and scanned images.
b) about the need for food for activity and growth, and about the importance of an adequate and varied diet for health	Research into healthy food and diet using the Kid's Food website Use a DTP package to create a poster about healthy food and diet - use clipart and scanned images.
Circulation
c) that the heart acts as a pump to circulate the blood through vessels around the body, including through the lungs	Research into heart physiology using the human heart website
d) about the effect of exercise and rest on pulse rate	Use a spreadsheet to store and graph pulse rate data before, during and after exercise.
Movement
e) that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles to support and protect their bodies and to help them to move	Research into aspects of human movement using Bodymapper and Bodywise software.
Growth and reproduction
f) about the main stages of the human life cycle
Health
g) about the effects on the human body of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and how these relate to their personal health	Older KS2 pupils could research into the effects of smoking using resources on the ASH website
h) about the importance of exercise for good health.	Use a spreadsheet to store and graph data about types of exercise carried out by other children and/or adults
Green plants
3. Pupils should be taught:
Growth and nutrition
a) the effect of light, air, water and temperature on plant growth	Use a spreadsheet to display the different growth rates over time of plants grown under different conditions.
b) the role of the leaf in producing new material for growth	Research into aspects of green plants using Plantwise software.
c) that the root anchors the plant, and that water and minerals are taken in through the root and transported through the stem to other parts of the plant
Reproduction
d) about the parts of the flower [for example, stigma, stamen, petal, sepal] and their role in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal and germination.	Research into parts and functions of flowers using a CDROM encyclopaedia
Variation and classification
4. Pupils should be taught:
a) to make and use keys	Construct a tree key of minibeasts, pond animals, mammals or plants in the school grounds using ReTreeval software. Use a spreadsheet to store and graph data about variation amongst a sample of natural things, eg samples (30 plus) conkers or sycamore seeds.
b) how locally occurring animals and plants can be identified and assigned to groups
c) that the variety of plants and animals makes it important to identify them and assign them to groups.
Living things in their environment
5. Pupils should be taught:
a) about ways in which living things and the environment need protection
Adaptation
b) about the different plants and animals found in different habitats	Use a mapping package (eg Local Studies) to record plants and evidence of animal life in different habitats in school grounds or the immediate locality.
c) how animals and plants in two different habitats are suited to their environment
Feeding relationships
d) to use food chains to show feeding relationships in a habitat	Use a DTP package to construct a food chain with clip art images. Use the Virtual Pond Dip website to find out about food chains in a pond habitat.
e) about how nearly all food chains start with a green plant
Micro-organisms
f) that micro-organisms are living organisms that are often too small to be seen, and that they may be beneficial [for example, in the breakdown of waste, in making bread] or harmful [for example, in causing disease, in causing food to go mouldy].
Sc3 Materials and their properties
Grouping and classifying materials
1. Pupils should be taught:
a) to compare on the basis of their material properties, including hardness, strength, flexibility and magnetic behaviour, and to relate these properties to everyday uses of the materials	Construct a tree key of everyday materials and objects using ReTreeval software. Record, store and sort data about the properties of everyday materials, e.g. soap
b) that some materials are better thermal insulators than others	Wrap containers of warm water with different insulating materials and use temperature sensors to monitor and record the different rates of cooling.
c) that some materials are better electrical conductors than others	Store and retrieve information about the properties of materials in a database. Use the search and sort functions to identify the best materials for specific purposes, eg good electrical conduction.
d) to describe and group rocks and soils on the basis of their characteristics, including appearance, texture and permeability	Create a database of rock samples with fields such as hardness, colour, ability to mark paper, etc.
e) to recognise differences between solids, liquids and gases, in terms of ease of flow and maintenance of shape and volume.
Changing materials
2. Pupils should be taught:
a) to describe changes that occur when materials are mixed [for example, adding salt to water]	Use a wordprocessor with a wordbank to make a writing frame about changes to materials.
b) to describe changes that occur when materials [for example, water, clay, dough] are heated or cooled
c) that temperature is a measure of how hot or cold things are	Estimate the temperature in different places inside and outside the classroom. Use a temperature sensor to take readings in these places and then compare with the estimates.
d) about reversible changes, including dissolving, melting, boiling, condensing, freezing and evaporating	Research into the meaning of terms relating to reversible changes using an online encyclopaedia.
e) the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle	In a wordprocessor, use cut and paste or drag and drop to arrange statements about the stages of the water cycle into the correct order.
f) that non-reversible changes [for example, vinegar reacting with bicarbonate of soda, plaster of Paris with water] result in the formation of new materials that may be useful
g) that burning materials [for example, wood, wax, natural gas] results in the formation of new materials and that this change is not usually reversible.
Separating mixtures of materials
3. Pupils should be taught:
a) how to separate solid particles of different sizes by sieving [for example, those in soil]	Use a wordprocessor with a wordbank to make a writing frame about children's experiments with mixtures.
b) that some solids [for example, salt, sugar] dissolve in water to give solutions but some [for example, sand, chalk] do not
c) how to separate insoluble solids from liquids by filtering
d) how to recover dissolved solids by evaporating the liquid from the solution
e) to use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated.
Sc4 Physical processes
Electricity
1. Pupils should be taught:
Simple circuits
a) to construct circuits, incorporating a battery or power supply and a range of switches, to make electrical devices work [for example, buzzers, motors]
b) how changing the number or type of components [for example, batteries, bulbs, wires] in a series circuit can make bulbs brighter or dimmer	Use a light sensor to measure the brightness of bulbs in different circuits.
c) how to represent series circuits by drawings and conventional symbols, and how to construct series circuits on the basis of drawings and diagrams using conventional symbols.	Use a graphics program to assemble pre-drawn electrical symbols onto circuit diagrams.
Forces and motion
2. Pupils should be taught:
Types of force
a) about the forces of attraction and repulsion between magnets, and about the forces of attraction between magnets and magnetic materials
b) that objects are pulled downwards because of the gravitational attraction between them and the Earth
c) about friction, including air resistance, as a force that slows moving objects and may prevent objects from starting to move	Use a force meter and string to pull a brick across different surfaces. Use a spreadsheet to graph the results. Sort the spreadsheet table into order to find the surfaces with most and least frictional forces. Use spreadsheet to sort and graph data from an ectivity to find the best shape of paper aeroplane.
d) that when objects [for example, a spring, a table] are pushed or pulled, an opposing pull or push can be felt
e) how to measure forces and identify the direction in which they act.
Light and sound
3. Pupils should be taught:
Everyday effects of light
a) that light travels from a source
b) that light cannot pass through some materials, and how this leads to the formation of shadows	Use a light sensor to compare the amount of light passing through different materials.
c) that light is reflected from surfaces [for example, mirrors, polished metals]	Use a light sensor to compare the amount of light passing reflecting from different materials.
Seeing
d) that we see things only when light from them enters our eyes	Research into the structure of the eye using an online encyclopaedia or CDROM encyclopaedia.
Vibration and sound
e) that sounds are made when objects [for example, strings on musical instruments] vibrate but that vibrations are not always directly visible	Create a database of musical instruments, including fields to record how pitch and loudness of sounds are changed.
f) how to change the pitch and loudness of sounds produced by some vibrating objects [for example, a drum skin, a plucked string]
g) that vibrations from sound sources require a medium [for example, metal, wood, glass, air] through which to travel to the ear.	Use a sound sensor pressed against different surfaces to compare how sound travels through different materials.
The Earth and beyond
4. Pupils should be taught:
The Sun, Earth and Moon
a) that the Sun, Earth and Moon are approximately spherical	Look at digital images of Earth and moon - available form several websites
Periodic changes
b) how the position of the Sun appears to change during the day, and how shadows change as this happens	Record shadow lengths at regular intervals during a day and enter data into a spreadsheet for graphing. Do this at different times of year to explore seasonal changes.
c) how day and night are related to the spin of the Earth on its own axis
d) that the Earth orbits the Sun once each year, and that the Moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the Earth.	Enter data on the planets into a spreadsheet. Use a scattergraph tool to look for patterns and links between variables, such as planet diameter, gravity, distance from sun, etc.