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WHAT IS YOUR NATIONAL CURRICULUM LEVEL?
If you are in years 7, 8 or 9, then you should be know what level you are working at in Science. You should also be aiming to reach the next level in your work.
Use this information to work out what level you are at now, and how to progress to the next level.
The information is divided up into the four sections:
Scientific Enquiry (investigation work)
Life Processes and Living Things (Biology)
Materials and their Properties (Chemistry)
Physical Processes (Physics)
Read the sentences carefully for each level and decide which apply to you best. The sentences for the next level up will help you to see what you need to concentrate on now.
Scientific Enquiry (investigation work)
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National Curriculum Level
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Key Sentences
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ONE
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- I can explain simple features of objects, simple features of living things and events that occur
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TWO
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- I can use text books to find out more about a topic (i.e. find out more information)
- I can use simple equipment to obtain results
- I can record my results on tables
- I can predict what will happen or what should happen using science key words
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THREE
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- I can think of ways of finding a solution to a problem
- I know it is important to test my ideas
- I can use simple equipment to measure length and mass
- I can record my results in a variety of ways e.g. tables and charts
- I can explain patterns in my results
- I can explain what my investigation has shown using science key words
- I can suggest ways to make improvements to my investigation
- I know what a fair test is
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FOUR
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- I know that scientific ideas are based on evidence
- I can plan a fair test myself and write a method of how to do it
- I can choose the correct equipment for my investigation
- I can make the right number of observations and record them
- I can plot a line graph of my results
- I can spot patterns in my graphs and make a conclusion from these patterns
- I can say how to improve my investigation and why
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FIVE
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- I know that scientists use evidence from experiments and their own ideas to explain how things happen
- When carrying out a fair test I know to pick out the key factors I'm testing
- I can come up with my own prediction using scientific knowledge and understanding
- I know what apparatus to use for my experiment and what measurements to take
- I can use my equipment accurately (e.g. when using a measuring cylinder I measure from the bottom of the minicus)
- I know why it is important to repeat experiments and explain why I may get different results
- I can record my results accurately and using appropriate units (e.g. seconds, minutes, cm, metres, etc.) and present this on a line graph
- I can explain what my results tell me using science key words
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SIX
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- I know that experiments have proved important in the development of scientific ideas (e.g. Edward Jenner's work on vaccination and the discovery of Penicillin)
- I can use my own scientific knowledge and understanding to plan my own experiment
- I know how to incorporate research into my experiment and I can use a range of text books without my teacher giving me page references
- I can decide on an appropriate number of observations and recordings for my investigation
- I can measure a record data accurately, minimising the amount of error in my experiment
- I can display my data using appropriate graphs, tables and charts
- I can recognise any anomalous result
- I can draw a conclusion which is consistent with the evidence I have obtained and relate it back to my own scientific knowledge about the topic being investigated
- I can think of ways my procedure could be improved to make my results more reliable
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SEVEN
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- I can predict what will happen in my investigation and support this prediction with scientific theories
- I can identify all the variables in my experiment and design an appropriate procedure to test my investigation
- I can use all available resources
- I can use a wide range of equipment to make systematic observations and measurements
- I know when to repeat measurements
- I can display my data using appropriate charts, tables and graphs and I can draw a line of best-fit if necessary
- My conclusion supports to evidence I have obtained and I can explain my conclusion using scientific knowledge and understanding
- I can explain what I have done in my investigation using technical scientific language and conventions (e.g. symbols or flow diagrams)
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EIGHT
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- I can give examples where scientific ideas or models have changes due to scientific evidence
- I can use data from different sources and evaluate them
- I know that investigating a scientific question may involve using different strategies
- I can identify any anomalous results and explain them
- I can use scientific knowledge and understanding to draw a conclusion
- I can communicate my findings and arguments using scientific and technical words and I show awareness of the range of views of others from past research
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Life Processes and Living Things (Biology)
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National Curriculum Level
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Key Sentences
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ONE
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- I can label the parts of plants or animals.
- I can describe a range of characteristics,e.g. a Rabbit is grey.
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TWO
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- I know that living things need food, water, air and light in order to survive.
- I can sort living things into groups, e.g., all insects have six jointed legs.
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THREE
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- I know the differences between living and non-living things and I can describe them using MRSGREN.
- Movement
- Respiration
- Sensitivity
- Growth
- Reproduction
- Excretion
- Nutrition
- I can explain why living things change.
- I can identify how an animal is adapted to suit its environment. (e.g. a shark has fins to help it swim)
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FOUR
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- I can use scientific names for organ systems, e.g., the heart (ks2) and the stomach (ks3) and I know where these organs are in the human body.
- I can identify and label plant organs (e.g. leaf and stem)
- I can use the way an animal looks to identify it using a key.
- I can draw a food chain and understand what it means.
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FIVE
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- I can build on my KS2 and KS3 knowledge.
- I can describe the functions of organs in the human body, e.g. the function of the stomach is to break down proteins, and it also produces Hydrochloric acid to kill bacteria.
- I can describe the functions of parts of the plant, e.g., the root hairs have a large surface area through which they can absorb water and minerals from the soil.
- I can explain how these functions are important for the organism to live. E.g., water absorbed through the root hairs is used by the plant to photosynthesise.
- I can describe the main stages of the life cycles of humans and flowering plants and I can explain how they are similar.
- I know that there is a great variety of living things and I understand that we can use the way an organism looks to classify it.
- I can explain that different organisms are found in different habitats depending on the environmental factors e.g., the availability of water or light.
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SIX
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- I can use the correct scientific terminology to describe life processes in animals and plants. E.g. respiration and photosynthesis.
- I can explain the differences between related processes e.g., pollination and fertilisation.
- I can describe the difference between a simple animal cell and a simple plant cell. I know that plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts and a vacuole but animal cells do not.
- I know that there is variation between living things. Differences in appearance between individuals can be caused by their environment or Inherited.
- I can explain how the number or organisms in a habitat depends the availability of water, light and other environmental factors.
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SEVEN
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EIGHT
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- I can describe and explain how biological systems function.
- I can relate the cellular structure of organs to the associated life processes. E.g., the absorption of food in the digestive system and gaseous exchange in the lungs.
- I can recognise, predict and explain changes in biological systems. For example how the growth of greenhouse crops is effected by increased Carbon dioxide concentration, and the consequences of smoking for organ systems.
- I can explain how individuals inherit characteristics and I can describe how this knowledge is used in selective breeding etc.
- I can predict how environmental changes will effect ecosystems both in the long and short term. I can back up my predictions using my scientific knowledge.
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EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE
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- I have good knowledge and understanding of the level 5 - 8 work.
- I can explain how the internal and external cellular structures of organisms relate to life processes; e.g. villi and microvilli in the digestive system increase surface area for absorption.
- I can explain how the structure of cells is involved in inheritance and variation and I can relate this to modern forms of selective breeding such as genetic engineering.
- I am able interpret quantitative data to help describe and explain patterns of change within an ecosystem (e.g., in terms of population changes in an environment).
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Materials and their Properties (Chemistry)
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National Curriculum Level
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Key Sentences
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THREE
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- I can sort materials into groups
- I can explain why certain materials are suitable for certain jobs (e.g. why do we use glass for windows?)
- I can decide which changes can easily go backwards and which cannot (e.g. Can melted ice be frozen again?)
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FOUR
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- I can use different properties to put substances into groups
- I can describe filtration and distillation
- I can use words like evaporation and condensation to talk about changes
- I can predict which changes can go backwards and which cannot
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FIVE
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- I can identify metals and nonmetals from their properties
- I can spot when evaporation or condensation would happen
- I can work out how to separate a sand and water mixture or a salt and water mixture
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SIX
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- I know how to make new materials using chemical or physical changes
- I know how particles are arranged in solids liquids and gases
- I can make up word equations for the reactions of acids and metals or oxygen and metals
- I can spot what is happening to energy in making new materials
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SEVEN
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- I can explain what happens to particles when substances change between solid, liquid and gas
- I can spot the difference between elements, compounds and mixtures from looking at the particles
- I can use symbols and formulae for chemical substances
- I can talk about weathering of rocks in terms of physical and chemical change
- I can predict reactions using the reactivity series
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EIGHT
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- I can put reactions into groups like oxidation or neutralisation
- I can write chemical formulae for compounds
- I can write balanced symbol equations for many reactions (e.g. metals and acids or acids and carbonates)
- I can suggest how new compounds can be made from looking at similar reactions
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Physical Processes (Physics)
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National Curriculum Level
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Key Sentences
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THREE
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- I can say what would happen to a bulb in an incomplete electrical circuit
- I can say what would happen to the speed of an object that has a push or pull on it
- I can explain why a sound gets fainter as you get further away from it
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FOUR
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- I can describe how to connect a device into an electrical circuit
- I can explain why the sun changes position in the sky during the day
- I can talk generally about the connections between force and motion (including gravity or magnetic forces)
- I can use my physical idea to explain how shadows are formed
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FIVE
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- I can use my ideas in physics to explain how to change the current in a circuit or how to make a sound louder or higher pitched
- I can explain how I can see objects
- I can talk about the forces on things that are not moving
- I can use models to talk about how the Earth affects the length of days or years
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SIX
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- I can describe and explain how electricity can transfer energy
- I can work out the net force on an object
- I can talk about how wind and waves are used as energy resources
- I can recognise when energy is being transferred
- I can recognise when light is being refracted or dispersed
- I can use different factors to explain the different brightness of planets or stars in the night sky
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SEVEN
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- I can explain the strength of electromagnets using ideas of electricity and magnetism
- I can use mathematical equations for speed and pressure using the correct units
- I can describe the link between vibration and the pitch of a sound in detail
- I can describe the motion of planets in the solar system using the ideas of gravity
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EIGHT
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- I can use models to describe how sound waves move through different substances
- I can do mathematical calculations that involve two or more steps with being helped
- I can interpret graphs quantitatively (e.g. working out acceleration or distance travelled from a speed-time graph)
- I can think of ways of working out how heavy the different planets in the Solar System are I look at things from more than one viewpoint (e.g. providing for our energy needs)
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