Science

In the Science learning area, students develop a scientific view of the world and develop their understanding of science ideas and uses. They use this view to explore the world around them guided by the Western Australia Science curriculum which is divided into three branches.

Science Understanding where the focus is on developing Science knowledge. This is divided into 4 sub-strands:

Biological Science – Living things are part of the world around us
Chemical Sciences – Objects are part of the world around us
Earth and Space Sciences – World changes can affect how I feel/react
Physical Sciences – Objects can be moved and touched.

Science Inquiry Skills focuses on students using the Scientific Method to carry out investigations. The inquiry skills we introduce and develop are:

Questioning and predicting
Planning and conducting
Processing and analysing data and information
Evaluating
Communicating

In collaboration with these skills, students explore Science as a Human Endeavour where they are expected to explain how scientific knowledge helps us to solve problems, inform decisions and identify historical contribution.

Weekly Lessons

At Piara Waters Primary School, Pre-Primary to Year 6 students are taught Science by a specialist Science teacher. In Kindergarten, the classroom teacher teaches Science.

Two hours have been allocated to Science for every Pre-Primary to Year 6 class. The first hour of the weekly lessons focuses on understanding content and concepts. The second hour is set aside for developing students’ inquiry skills which would help further engage and challenge your child’s involvement in science.

While some classes have their Science lessons in their classrooms, Year 5 and 6 lessons are in the Senior Science Lab and Pre-Primary and Year 1 lessons in our Junior Science Lab in Block 1.

Science Expo (Year 6 students)

Our year six students demonstrate their science skills and understandings at the Year 6 Science Expo. The 2023 Expo will be held in week 6 of term 4.

The Science Expo serves to encourage scientific talent among Piara Water Primary School students while instilling a love for science and scientific inquiry.

The Science Expo projects serves as a summative assessment of the individual student’s Science Inquiry Skills and a competition among peers to produce a wide variety of projects that interests them.

Community Involvement

Our school would like to show students that Science is much more than just their weekly lesson and that it is very much part of our everyday life. Recognising that our community is rich with family and friends who are involved in one of the many fields of science, we would like to include parents and community members in our program. Your participation would help broaden the children’s mindsets and the increase their interest in Science. Please inform us if you would like to share your experiences with the students. With this information, we will be able to contact you when there is an opportunity for a special guest speaker to present.

What will my child learn?

A summary of the content taught in 2023 at PWPS can be downloaded here.

Parents can view the full syllabuses for Pre-Primary to Year 6 on the SCSA website.