Science in the Community: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one Human Endeavour idea: people and communities use science to spot a problem and explain it, then weigh their responses and decide, and science alone does not make the choice. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

What a skill companion is

Human Endeavour ideas are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Habitat Conditions and Survival; Earth, Sun and the Day-Night Cycle; Electrical Circuits and Energy; and Reversible and Irreversible Changes. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the idea on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

1. Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
2. Print the decision matrix whenever a lesson meets a problem worth solving, and the sun-safe sheet once per child.
3. Cut out the knowledge cards once. They are reused all year whenever a class weighs a decision.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the idea.
5. Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the idea before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives a model matrix for the rusting bridge, the sun-safe answers worked from the chart, the card key, a model decision for every Year 6 topic, and a quick three-level guide. In Year 5, children followed a problem to a decision and heard a town meeting argue. The step up in Year 6 is weighing: scoring responses against what matters, telling the science apart from the evidence and the values in a decision, seeing that individuals and whole communities decide differently, and planning how to check that a decision worked.

Slot the idea into your science lessons

Every science unit meets a problem that people use science to solve. This map shows such a problem in each Year 6 topic, the science that explains it, the responses to weigh, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

The three moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

• Go from a problem, through the science, to a decision: “From a rusting bridge to a chosen response”.
• Weigh what each response gains and gives up: “Pick a response to the rusting bridge”.
• Check that a choice really uses the science: “Does the action use the rusting science to protect the iron?”.

How the scaffolds build the idea

The decision matrix names a problem and its science, scores each response against what matters, and plans a check. The sun-safe sheet reads one UV forecast and makes two kinds of decision: one for a child walking to school, and one for the whole school choosing where its shade sail goes. The knowledge cards sort what a decision rests on: the science behind the problem, evidence that a response works, and the costs and values people weigh.

From a problem to a decision

Science helps to name a problem and explain it, but people still have to choose what to do. Score each response from 1 (poor) to 3 (good) against each thing that matters, add the scores, then decide, and plan how you will check it worked.

Doing nothing is always on the list: it is a real choice, with its own costs later.

The UV index: one forecast, many decisions

Each day the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts the UV index, a number for how strong the Sun’s burning ultraviolet light will be. Sun protection is recommended whenever it is 3 or above. Here is the UV each hour on a clear summer day.

Dashed line: UV 3. Gold bars: UV 3 or more, when sun protection is recommended.

Read the forecast

An individual decides

The school decides

The school can afford one new shade sail. Use the chart to find the UV when each place is busy.

What does each piece of knowledge do?

Cut out the cards. Lay down the three grey heading cards, then place each card under the job it does in a decision. Next, group the cards by the problem they belong to. Which problems have a card of every kind, and what is missing for the others?

Teacher note: the piles are not the same size. Science explains a problem, but a decision also needs evidence and people’s values. The key is on the answer sheet.

Where should the new bench go?

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the idea on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. Pairs use beads that change colour in the Sun’s ultraviolet light to test spots around the school, then the class uses what it found to make two decisions: one each child makes alone, and one the class makes together.

We are learning to

• use science to spot a problem and explain it,
• weigh responses against what matters, and decide,
• tell a decision one person makes from one a whole community makes.

Success criteria

• I can explain our decision with the science, the evidence we measured, and what people care about.
• I can say how we would check that the decision worked.

You need

• a few UV-sensitive beads for each pair (they stay pale indoors and turn coloured in the Sun’s ultraviolet light), threaded on a pipe cleaner,
• the decision matrix (scaffold 1), one per child, and the knowledge cards (scaffold 3), one set per table,
• the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

No beads? Use the UV chart on the sun-safe sheet instead. Safety: hats on outside, and never look straight at the Sun.

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

Running it shorter? Stop after testing the spots, and weigh them at the start of your next science lesson.

Watch for these ideas

• Thinking any shade blocks all UV: shade cuts it, but some ultraviolet light still reaches a shaded spot.
• Thinking the science makes the decision on its own, when cost, views and what people care about count too.
• Forgetting that doing nothing is a choice, with costs of its own.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: test only two spots, full sun and under a tree, and score them against the UV alone.
• Bigger: write a short letter to the principal recommending the spot, with the science, the evidence and a way to check.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has a model matrix for the rusting bridge, the sun-safe answers, the card key, a model decision for each Year 6 topic, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers and look-fors

Decision matrix: the rusting footbridge

Decision: hot-dip galvanise, the town decides together. Check: inspect the beams every year for rust spots and measure the thinnest beam. A child who scores cost highest may choose paint; accept it with a reason and a plan to repaint.

Sun-safe school

1. On this chart, from 9 am to 5 pm: the UV is 3 or more on every reading in between (it crosses 3 between 8 and 9 am, and again between 5 and 6 pm). 2. Daylight saving puts the clocks an hour ahead, so the Sun is highest at about 1 pm, when the UV peaks at 12 (extreme). 3. At 8 am the UV is 2 (low), below 3; at 3 pm it is 9 (very high), so the walk home needs a hat and sun protection. 4. UV then: the bus stop 2 and 9; the sandpit 9; the canteen queue 12. The canteen queue: the UV is 12 (extreme) when 120 children wait there. The bus stop reads 9 (very high) too, with 60 children, so it is the next place for shade.

Knowledge cards

Every kind: the rusting bridge and sunburn at lunchtime. The electricity bill has no cost or value card yet, and the wilting seedlings have only evidence: ask children to write the missing cards.

What a good decision sounds like

A quick three-level guide

A child at standard names a problem and the science behind it, weighs several responses including doing nothing, and decides with the science, the evidence and what people care about. The idea grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.