Knowledge and skills:
During Year 5 & Year 6 the children learn about the following scientific areas:
Biology
Animals, including humans:
The children learn to:
- create a timeline to indicate stages of growth in humans;
- identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system;
- describe the function of the heart, blood vessels and blood;
- discuss the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on health;
- describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported in animals, including humans.
Evolution and inheritance:
The children learn to:
- describe how the Earth and living things have changed over time;
- explain how fossils can be used to find out about the past;
- explain about reproduction and offspring (recognising that offspring normally vary and are not identical to their parents);
- explain how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment;
- link adaptation over time to evolution;
- explain evolution.
Living things and their habitats:
The children learn to:
- describe the life cycle of different living things, e.g. mammal, amphibian, insect, bird;
- describe the differences between different life cycles;
- describe the process of reproduction in plants;
- describe the process of reproduction in animals;
- classify living things into broad groups according to observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences;
- describe how living things have been classified;
- animals in a specific way.
Chemistry
Materials, properties and changes:
The children learn to:
- compare and group materials based on their properties (e.g. hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity [electrical and thermal], and response to magnets);
- describe how a material dissolves to form a solution, explaining the process of dissolving;
- describe and show how to recover a substance from a solution;
- describe how some materials can be separated;
- demonstrate how materials can be separated (filtering, sieving and evaporating);
- know and can demonstrate that some changes are reversible and some are not;
- explain how some changes result in the formation of a new material and that this is usually irreversible;
- discuss reversible and irreversible changes;
- give evidenced reasons why materials should be used for specific purposes.