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Edinburgh Academy
Brave New World
How do we prepare our young people to live in it?
Science is a core subject (along with English and Maths) of the Scottish 5 – 14 curriculum. It provides an excellent framework for learning – for developing language and numeracy skills and giving these a meaningful context, and for teaching good values and responsible citizenship.
At The Edinburgh Academy our aim is to ensure that all learners acquire the skills and critical awareness to interpret and make sense of their world and (nowadays especially) the media, and to develop in them the capacity to make informed decisions and to cope with issues that arise in their daily lives.
Citizenship and Science
Through science we aim to develop these important citizenship skills by helping children:
- To acquire a secure knowledge and understanding.
- To develop skills and critical awareness to interpret and make sense of data.
- To have the opportunities to evaluate benefits and risks.
- To want to ask questions and seek answers – through open-ended investigations so that they think about the scientific process, and base their decisions and actions on research, not assertions by other.
- To develop a continuing interest and enthusiasm for science.
Science is taught in a well-equipped room (fully refurbished in 1999) with all children receiving four periods of science per week. Our science teachers all have honours degrees in a specialist area, and bring expertise appropriate to this stage.
Science teaching methods
Capturing interestIn the Junior School, we see our role in Science-teaching as pivotal. This is the best time to capture a child's interest, to develop it and to send him on with a delight in, and curiosity about, the world around him. We know that the right attitude needs to be encouraged and built upon from an early age. We acknowledge that children often learn best through hands-on activities and investigations. We are fortunate in having a dedicated ‘science laboratory'; spacious grounds that afford ample opportunities for outdoor studies and, to top this, we sit on the doorstep of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, a priceless resource of which we avail ourselves freely. We acknowledge that many of the children here will not become scientists but we hope to send them on to the Senior School with sound knowledge, a continuing interest in investigating their world and enthusiasm for science and all the exciting opportunities it provides. |
The Science of children
The bodies (children) are acted upon by a force (education) that compels them into action (learning). Here at The Edinburgh Academy Junior School we recognise this axiom and put it to good use – particularly in our science teaching. |
Science Festival
The second experiment was about a blowtorch and two chemical solutions. Flica turned the blowtorch on and handed it to Freddy. Next Flica sprayed one of the solutions and the flame turned green because it had copper metal in it. Now Flica sprayed the other chemical solution onto the flame and the flame turned red because it had magnesium metal in it. Now Freddy asked what would happen if you sprayed both the chemical solutions at the same time into the flame. Flica said the last scientist that did that exploded. After that they poured two chemicals into a beaker and it turned green and they mixed. Then they showed us a big red foot with a cross in the middle. They told us to stare at the foot for twenty seconds and then they flipped the card over and we saw a green foot on the other side. Afterwards Flica got out two plasma-balls and one bar-light, and asked two people from P4 to come and hold one end of the bulb and put their other hand on a plasma-ball. The bulb then lit up a tile and the children took their hand off. They showed us how the human eye works and showed us how we see colours. Flica’s assistant Sparky was told to switch off the lights. Then Flica switched on a purple light and shone it against a glow in the dark board. |
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Everyone knows that children act according to Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion – that every body is inert or in constant motion.
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"The P4s took part in a Science show in the science lab. There were two characters, one called Flica Switch (the scientist’s assistant) and Freddie the Firefly. Freddie the Firefly went to the scientist’s assistant to get help because her tail-light didn’t work anymore. The first thing the scientist did was to get a fake wooden sun. This wouldn’t work because this sun wasn’t the real thing, it wouldn’t fit into her tail-light and finally she didn’t need her tail light out in the sun.This page is: Edinburgh Academy / juniorschool / curriculum / science.htm
