Resources by Department for Education

Science in the National Curriculum 1989

This was the first National Curriculum for Science in England and Wales. One intention of the National Curriculum was that all students aged 5 to 16 learn science – that there should be ‘Science for All’ – and that this should include both the ‘methods of science’ and the acquisition of ‘knowledge and understanding...

Science in the National Curriculum 1991

This revision of the National Curriculum was an attempt to simplify the 1989 version, and to make assessment more manageable.

*The 17 Attainment Targets (AT) were reduced to four – with these divided into ‘strands’.

*Fewer Statements of Attainment: the number was approximately halved by broadening...

Science in the National Curriculum 1995

This revision of the National Curriculum builds on the 1991 version and follows Sir Ron Dearing’s 1993 review of the whole National Curriculum.

*It retains the four Attainment Targets (AT), each with an associated Programme of Study (PoS), although AT1 becomes ‘Experimental and investigative science’, and...

Science in the National Curriculum 1999

The National Curriculum for science, published in 1999. Compared with the 1995 version of the National Curriculum, the main changes are:
*There is a statement about the ‘Importance of Science’.
*The ‘Experimental and investigative science’ sections are renamed ‘Scientific enquiry’, with an emphasis on a...

Science in the National Curriculum 2004

This version of the National Curriculum was written to include only changes to the Key Stage Four Programme of Study (PoS) which would be first assessed in 2006. The Attainment Targets (AT) and PoS for Key Stages One, Two and Three did not change at this time. At Key Stage Four, the following overall changes were...

Science Teaching Units (Key Stages Three to Four)

Produced in 2008, these Secondary National Strategy lesson plan sequences were written to help teachers in planning for and teaching specific ideas important to their learning from Key Stage Three to Key Stage Four.

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Scientific Enquiry and its Place in the National Curriculum

This is a report of a SCORE workshop held in September 2011 at the Royal Society to explore the place of scientific enquiry in the national curriculum. The report summarises the main issues raised and describes the views of the participants. The workshop was chaired by Libby Steele, Head of Education at the Royal...

Scientific Enquiry Training Materials

Key Stage Three National Strategy training materials to run a day’s session with science teachers to help them develop an understanding of the key elements of Scientific Enquiry and how it might affect their practice.

Scientific Writing

The materials in this resource are from the Secondary National Strategy ‘Progressing to Level 6 and beyond in science’ project. They were intended for science teachers who are focusing on helping their students in developing general skills in scientific writing. For a more specific focus on explanations, arguments...

Scimorph

Scimorph is a Prototype Augmented Reality (AR) Character to promote engagement with science. Its target audience are Year Six students although useable across a much wider range. The resource can be used as a lesson introduction and to provoke discussion and exploration of scientific principles. It may also be...