The Science Curriculum

At The British School of Chicago, Science forms an important part of the curriculum.  By involving children in a wide range of scientific activicties, their experiences of the subject are broadened, allowing them to see the role of Science in their everyday lives.

There are 3 main areas of scientific study carried out at the school:

• Life processes and living things
• Materials and their properties
• Physical processes

Scientific enquiry forms the basis of much of the teaching of these 3 strands which are followed at until the end of Key Stage 4.

Key Stages 1 (5-7 years old) 

The children are engaged in a wide variety of scientific activities, which closely follow the National Curriculum of England and Wales and the guidelines of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the body that develops the national educational curriculum, assessments and examinations in the UK.  The IPC science learning goals form an integral part of the children's learning.

Key Stage 2 (7-11 years old)

At Key Stage 2 the children are engaged in a wide variety of scientific activities, which closely follow the National Curriculum of England and Wales and the guidelines of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and the International Primary Curriculum learning goals.

The British School of Chicago acknowledge that Science forms an important part of the curriculum.  By involving children in a wide range of scienfitic activities, their experiences will be broadened.  Students in Key Stage 2 will learn to develop knowledge and understanding of important scientific ideas, processes and skills and relate these to everyday experiences.  They will learn about ways of thinking and of finding out about and communicating ideas and they will learn to explore values and attitudes through Science.

Areas of study

There are 3 main areas of scientific study carried out at the school:

• Life processes and living things
• Materials and their properties
• Physical processes

Scientific enquiry forms the basis of much of the teaching of these 3 strands which are followed at until the end of Key Stage 4.

What the students learn

During Key Stage 2, students learn about a wider range of living things, materials and physical processes.

• They start to learn to make links between ideas and to explain things using simple models and theories.
• They learn to apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas of familiar phenomena, everyday things and their personal health.
• They learn to think about the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts.
• They learn to carry out more systematic investigations, working on their own and with others.
• They learn to use a range of reference sources in their work.
• They learn to talk about their work and its significance, and communicate ideas using a wide range of scientific language, conventional diagrams, charts and graphs.

Key Stage 3 (11-14 years old)

In Years 7, 8 and 9 science is taught in mixed-ability classes. Students are taught by the same teacher for each year of the course, during which time they follow Spotlight Science, a well resourced, integrated science course that again follows QCA guidelines. The course covers many topics from Biology, Chemistry and Physics and revisits these at a higher level each year so that learning is reviewed, consolidated and developed throughout the three years of study.

Key Stage 4 (14 -16 years old)

Science is a core subject in the curriculum and is studied by all pupils in Years 10 and 11. Discrete lessons take place in Biology, Chemistry and Physics through which the students gain the equivalent of two GCSE certificates. The content of the course is determined by the National Curriculum for England and follows the AQA Examination Board Specification (www.aqa.org.uk).

Key Stage 5 (16-18 years old)

The Brtisish School of Chicago is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Diploma.  As part of this program, all candidates will study at least one science (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) in depth, further information about the structure of the IB program can be found at www.ibo.org.