I really enjoy the hands on elements of science lessons and have recently trained with Science Foundation Ireland to become a facilitator for Discover Primary Science workshops. Here is an outline of my Science plan for the second half of Term 1.
My topics for this term include: Living things (Human body), Electricity and Forces.
I also plan to use the new STEM boxes from Prim-Ed Publishing. These are fantastic resources to develop a range of skills in your class. I intend to use a STEM card each month linking with the strand I am covering. I also use a variety of Science resources in my class.
The Discover Primary Science website has so many hands on activities that can be used in all classes. You can search for activities relevant to your own plans, DPSM also have a framework for planning science lessons and investigations which will encourage critical thinking and skills development for the children.
Another one of my favourite resources for Science is this book 100+ fun ideas for Science Investigations by Anita Loughrey. I feel it is an ideal starting point to develop more hands on lessons in the class. The class can be further encouraged to expand their own knowledge and learning by creating their own experiments to follow on from this activity. This book has three sections 5-7, 7-9 and 9-11, so you can easily find experiments suitable for your class age group. It also covers content similar to our own Science Curriculum.
Other books that I use to support and plan my Science lessons are the Primary Science books from Prim-Ed. These books have a mixture of hands on and research based activities for the class and they are designed with the Irish Science curriculum in mind. It also includes key vocab before the start of each topic which I like, discussing specific vocab before the activities allows the children the opportunity to use this new vocab in their own investigations. There are also some nice assessment ideas included.
These resources can all be used to plan your lessons. I am developing the DPSM framework for inquiry with my class which allows them to develop their own skills and take ownership of their learning.
If you have any questions on the above post, please send me a PM.
A.M.
Aistear Múinteoir 