Science: Mixed-age Year 5/6
Providing full curriculum coverage for Science while developing pupils' skills and knowledge across five key areas: Plants; Animals, including humans; Living things and their habitats; Materials and forces; and Earth and space.
How it works
Follow the units in the suggested order to ensure a coherent approach to the progression of skills and knowledge in Upper KS2 for the Science scheme of work.
The following strands run through all Science units:
- Knowledge and understanding.
- Working scientifically.
- Science in action.
Kapow Primary Science lessons are designed to be 1 hour and 30 minutes long to reflect the requirements of a core subject.
Units
Cycle A
Exploring different types of mixtures, the children learn methods of separation, dissolve various substances, investigate how temperature affects dissolving time, design and create a water filter, sieve soil and evaporate solutions.
Broadening their understanding of material properties, the children investigate hardness, transparency and conductivity, explore how these properties influence material uses, study reversible changes like dissolving and changes of state and compare them to irreversible changes like rusting, burning and mixing vinegar with bicarbonate of soda.
Studying the human circulatory system, the children learn about the roles of the heart, blood and blood vessels, use models to demonstrate their functions, explore how lifestyle choices affect health, advise patients using secondary sources, investigate the relationship between exercise and heart rate and analyse secondary data to understand fitness.
Exploring the movement of celestial bodies in the Solar System, the children learn about the Earth, other planets and the Moon, discover how the Earth’s rotation causes night and day, understand how sundials work and investigate satellite uses and the issue of space junk.
Proving that light travels in a straight line, the children explain observations of reflection and shadows, how our eyes allow us to see, how mirrors can be used in various ways and investigate factors affecting the size of shadows and the laws of reflection. To be published by mid-April 2025.
Bringing together learning from multiple Science units, the children make connections between key concepts and skills. To be published by the end of May 2025.
Cycle B
Comparing the life cycles of plants, mammals, birds, amphibians and insects, the children investigate asexual reproduction in plants and compare sexual and asexual reproduction.
Building on their knowledge of contact and non-contact forces, the children explore gravity, friction, air resistance and water resistance, consider the effects of unbalanced forces, plan investigations and test ideas using models to create the most effective pulley system.
Revisiting electrical circuits, the children draw conventional circuit diagrams, use models to explain current, resistance and voltage, compare batteries and their effects on bulb brightness and apply their knowledge to design and create practical devices. To be published by mid-February 2025.
Broadening their knowledge of grouping vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and micro-organisms by shared characteristics, the children learn about Carl Linnaeus’s development of the Linnaean and binomial classification systems and use branching and number keys to sort and identify organisms.
Studying patterns in humans and other species, the children learn about inherited and environmental characteristics, understand how observations led Darwin and Wallace to develop theories, model finch variation and natural selection to explain species evolution and explore fossil evidence supporting this theory. To be published by mid-April 2025.
Studying human development and changes, the children identify key stages, consider data for normal growth, describe the effects of puberty on girls and boys and produce graphs comparing gestation periods across different mammals, including humans. To be published by the end of May 2025.
Bringing together learning from multiple Science units, the children make connections between key concepts and skills. To be published by the end of May 2025.
