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Science
The Science Curriculum can be broadly split into natural science and physical science.
Science projects can easily be combined with:
- Art
- Design and Technology
- Literacy
- Numeracy
Museums can offer the opportunity to:
- take Science out of the classroom and explore new and exciting ways of learning in the less formal environment of a museum
- provide a context for problem-solving activities
- provide information about the historical and social contexts in which scientists work (e.g.,local history of a mine)
- reconstruct demonstrations or historic experiments
- provide supporting material for the "Ideas and Evidence" component of the Curriculum
What Local Museums Can Offer
- Many local museums have a natural history gallery with collections of taxidermy and/or geology.
- Themed worksheets related to curriculum topics, such as food chains, are a simple tool to enable schools to use these galleries on a self-led visit.
- A themed discovery box can also be used to enhance the collections.
- Themed storybooks can be used in conjunction with collections to bring literacy to life.
- Local museums often have links with local societies such as local astronomy groups or conservation groups who may be able to provide people to help with activities.
How to Take This Forward
- Look at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Schemes of Work for Science.
- Contact the Science Co-ordinator at your local school or your LEA Advisor to discuss how your collections might support Science.
- Consult a museum which already supports Science. See below for examples of museums who offer Science.
Key Stages 1 and 2
- SEARCH, Hampshire Museums' hands-on centre for natural sciences offers:
- two hour sessions led by museum staff in topics such as animal classification (Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2), skeletons & movement (Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2), rocks & soils (Key Stage 2)
- an early years workshop ‘Museums for Beginners: Animal Antics’ for 3-5 year old children
- Milestones, Hampshire’s living history museum which covers physical science and offers two hour sessions led by museum staff for Key Stage 2 children, e.g. ‘In Steam’ (upper Key Stage 2) & ‘ Chains, Frames and Bicycle Wheels’ (lower Key Stage 2) – pupils explore how the world works through modelling, investigation and hypothesis.
- The Museum of the History of Science, Oxford offers:
- sessions on the Tudors and navigation
- sessions on Measurement using historical examples for Key Stages 3/4.
Key Stages 3 and 4
The 'Ideas and Evidence' strand of the Science Curriculum is often one for which teachers welcome input of new ideas and activities. Museums can be well placed to offer an historical perspective on the development of ideas along with object-led evidence.
The Museum of the History of Science, Oxford offers:
- tailored sessions for small groups on various aspects of the history of science related to the curriculum including aspects of astronomy, early chemistry, early electricity, the development of penicillin, and medicine
- sessions focussing on ‘Ideas and Evidence' such as the discovery of oxygen, and models of the universe.
Downloads
Material Matters (Banbury Museum. Word DOC, 37Kb).
Science at Haslemere (Haslemere Educational Museum. Word DOC, 37Kb).
Genes meet jeans - art and science (Ashmolean Museum. Word DOC, 36.5Kb).
Shadow Puppets (Brighton Museums and Galleries. Word DOC, 80Kb).
Useful Websites
Go to the next page Science 2 for a list of useful websites about Science and a list of museums which support Science.