England

Working scientifically

• Planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary

• Taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate

  • Read a thermometer (5-T.1)
  • Compare temperatures on thermometers (5-T.2)
  • Identify laboratory tools (6-W.1)

• Recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs

  • Understand conservation of matter using graphs (6-A.2)
  • Collect and graph temperature data (6-S.3)
  • Describe and graph water on Earth (6-T.1)

• Using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests

• Reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations

• Identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments

  • What affects traits? Use observations to support a hypothesis (6-N.1)
  • Inherited and acquired traits: use evidence to support a statement (6-N.4)
  • Compare ancient and modern organisms: use observations to support a hypothesis (6-R.4)
  • Interpret evidence from fossils in rock layers (6-R.5)

Living things and their habitats

• Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals

  • Identify mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians (6-I.1)
  • Identify vertebrates and invertebrates (6-I.2)
  • Use evidence to classify mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians (6-I.3)
  • Use evidence to classify animals (6-I.4)
  • Describe, classify and compare kingdoms (6-I.5)

• Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics

  • Use evidence to classify animals (6-I.4)
  • Describe, classify and compare kingdoms (6-I.5)

Animals, including humans

• Identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood

  • Body systems: circulation and respiration (6-K.2)

• Recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function

• Describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans

Evolution and inheritance

• Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago

  • Introduction to fossils (6-R.1)
  • Identify and classify fossils (6-R.2)
  • Compare fossils to modern organisms (6-R.3)
  • Compare ancient and modern organisms: use observations to support a hypothesis (6-R.4)
  • Interpret evidence from fossils in rock layers (6-R.5)

• Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents

  • Match offspring to parents using inherited traits (6-N.2)
  • Read a plant pedigree chart (6-N.5)
  • Read an animal pedigree chart (6-N.6)

• Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution

  • Introduction to adaptations (5-O.1)
  • Animal adaptations: beaks, mouths and necks (6-M.2)
  • Animal adaptations: feet and limbs (6-M.3)
  • Animal adaptations: skins and body coverings (6-M.4)

Light

• Recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines

  • How does light travel and interact with matter? (6-H.2)

• Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye

  • How do we see objects? (6-H.1)

• Explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes

  • How do we see objects? (6-H.1)

• Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them

Electricity

• Associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit

• Compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches

• Use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram