The focus in Key Stage 2 is on deepening children’s scientific skills and extending their knowledge, and on improving the precision with which they use scientific vocabulary. As they progress through Key Stage 2, children will increasingly be able to make connections and comparisons between the concepts and contexts they have studied. In upper Key Stage 2, children will also be introduced to more abstract concepts and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time and be able to give examples of this. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer questions in science, using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests. Children will also be encouraged to make more extensive use of secondary sources to support investigation design and hypothesis formation, as well as to provide context for their questions and reference points for their conclusions.

By upper Key Stage 2, children will be confident in applying increasingly precise methods of measurement (using standard measurement units) and be able to present their findings in more varied ways, including making greater use of tables and graphs to present evidence that they then discuss. Children will be able to draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings. They will also discuss why validation of their findings is important and be able to suggest how they should do this (e.g. showing understanding of how to conduct a fair test, use of controls, and repeating and replicating investigation outcomes).