Life processes and living things

Science

Primary

A CPD trainer demonstrates a practical exercise for science APP

CPD trainer Deborah Herridge introduces an exciting practical mummification exercise for use in Key Stage 1 and 2 science and history lessons, helping teachers use the primary science APP criteria. Talking to a group of primary science teachers, Deborah shows how a tomato can be mummified using similar techniques to the method employed by ancient Egyptians, relating science to a history topic. The changes to the fruit can then be recorded over a few weeks, enabling teachers to cover the Assessing Pupil's Progress criteria for 'observing and measuring' over time.

APP for Primary Science - Mummification with Deborah Herridge

Two schools take part in the RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch

Follow two schools as they take part in the RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch in a bid to discover more about the wildlife in their local area. The scheme encourages schools to get involved in the RSPB's work through cross curricular activities. Those involved spend an hour counting different species and the numbers of birds visiting the school's grounds. Surrey Square Infants is an inner city school, in London, whilst Woolenwick Infants and Nursery school is in leafy Hertfordshire. The RSPB are clear that it's important to collect information from these different environments. The pupils from each school become involved in a range of activities including making bird food and feeders, creating make-shift hide outs from classroom windows, as well as counting the numbers and species of birds in their school grounds.

Bird Watching in Schools

How to identify a range of British birds

This programme introduces 15 British birds that you are most likely to see in the UK and how to identify them by their size, shape, colour, habitat, behaviour and sounds. Those included are blackheaded gulls, blackbirds, blue tits, carrion crows, chaffinches, great tits, greenfinchs, house sparrows, magpies, pheasants, pied wagtails, robins, sparrow hawks, wood pidgeons and starlings. Ecologist and Natural History presenter Mike Dilger talks us through the key attributes and qualities of each of these birds. All footage in this film is from the RSPB archive. The film can be watched in it's entirety or can be broken down into 15 segments, one for each bird.

British Birds

A visual journey into the world of bugs, for KS2 science

Examine micro-organisms - or bugs - with a Key Stage 2 science class. This video shows pupils that bugs live everywhere, including on and inside human beings, and it highlights the importance of good hygiene practices. Bug Ballet shows microbes under a powerful microscope dancing across the screen. It's a Bug's Life uses animation and live action to demonstrate the consequences of a child not washing his hands after using the toilet. Yoghurt Live! proves that not all bacteria are harmful. In fact, bacteria is essential in yoghurt production. Using animation, this video investigates the microscopic science of making yoghurt. A Trip to the Dentist shows a primary class just how many bacteria we have in our mouths and explains how brushing our teeth prevents decay. Finally, Where Does all the Poo Go? visits a sewage works, showing what happens after we have flushed the toilet and how bacteria helps to clean the sewage.

Bugs

Pupils learn about STEM careers through crime scene investigation

Primary STEM Ambassador, Dr Clare Davy, engages KS2 pupils with fun activities related to science and DNA. Clare works at the National Institute for Medical Research, studying viruses which can cause cancer. She brings practical chemistry to Rosh Pinah Primary School with a crime scene investigation. In trying to identify who stole some sweets, Year 6 pupils learn about the complex topic of DNA, as they dress up as forensic scientists and get a chance to work with equipment that Clare uses in her job. The class analyse samples from the crime scene, and build their own models of the structure of DNA. Using the results they obtain, the pupils discover the identity of the villain who committed the crime.

Clare Davy: Teaching DNA

Pupils from south London spend a week learning at a farm in Devon

In this programme, pupils and teachers from Kelvin Grove Primary School in south London spend a gruelling week at Nethercott Farm in Devon. Experiencing everything from lambing to milking, feeding to mucking out, the children rise to the challenge of a new way of life, learn something about themselves and where their food comes from. Farms for City Children is an initiative to take children from the cities and give them a taste of a real working farm.

Down on the Farm

Thinking about the scientific link between health and diet

Food adventurer Stefan Gates gets pupils thinking about the science linking their health and diet by preparing a crispy worm salad, in a video designed for use in Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 science and PSHE lessons. Gastronuts presenter Stefan Gates prepares and eats a salad using crispy worms, jellyfish and giant ants. Stefan makes the point that although people may eat very different foods around the world, they still contain essential nutrients like protein and vitamins. Stefan then explains how some foods are healthier than others, and he wonders if there's ever any reason why certain foods should be banned. This introduction to the idea of choice and restriction of food, and how diet and nutrition are linked to health, can be used to encourage primary and secondary pupils to think about healthy and unhealthy foods and to debate how much control there should be over the food we eat.

Eating Whatever You Like?

How plants survive in different environments, for KS2 science

This five-part Key Stage 2 science video shows how plants adapt to their environments and how they're essential to our lives. What Plants Need reveals to a primary class how botanists can replicate different environments to give plants the right conditions to survive. Leaves Make Food demonstrates through animation that leaves are food factories where photosynthesis happens. Plants We Eat follows an organic farmer harvesting edible plant parts, while Oxygen from Plants shows how plants produce oxygen for us to breathe. And finally, Don't Waste Paper explains where paper comes from, forestry sustainability and the importance of recycling.

Green World

Illustrate the food chain with a playful KS2 science video

Use this playful short video to show Year 4 science pupils how different stages along the food chain are interdependent, and how the chain can be broken when one link is disrupted. A fox, a caterpillar and a carrot talk about what they eat, showing how animals and plant life are reliant on one another to survive. The video ends with a question designed to provoke a Key Stage 2 classroom discussion on the food chain.

Habitats and Food Chains - Fox and Hedgehog

A KS2 science idea, linking vision with light entering the eye

Give Year 6 science pupils a sense of what life is like if you can't see properly, based on the Key Stage 2 science learning objective 'we see light sources because light enters our eyes'. Alex is virtually blind due to a congenital condition which means that light entering his eyes isn't processed correctly by his optic nerves. He has a minute amount of peripheral vision, but only in bright light. Alex answers a series of probing questions about why he can't see and he shows how he travels to work with his guide dog Leo. The video features images from Alex's perspective, simulating what his eyes are able to see. There's a question to prompt discussion among primary pupils at the end.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Subjects

> Primary Science

> Life processes and living things