Celebrating Science at Bay Academy

Scope of Science Learning

In science, students will develop their observational skills by using their senses and selected observational tools. They will gather and record observed information in a number of ways, and they will reflect on these findings to identify patterns or connections, make predictions, and test and refine their ideas with increasing accuracy.

Students will explore:

• the way objects and phenomena function,
• parts of a system, 
• complex cause and effect relationships,
• change over time, and recognise that change may be affected by one or more variables,
• the impact that the application of science, including advances in technology, has had on themselves, society and the environment. 
• ethical and social issues in science-related contexts.

Students will communicate their ideas or provide explanations using their own scientific experience and that of others.

(extract from: Science Scope and Sequence, International Baccalaureate, Primary Years Programme)

Purpose/Learning focus:

Recently your child has begun their science project in class. The science project’s objective is to give every child hands-on experience using the scientific method and engage in their own interests and passions in a meaningful way.

The emphasis of this project is not on winning anything, but on having positive and authentic learning experiences. Sharing is essential to the experience for our students, as is challenging students to take risks, grow in confidence and become more knowledgeable. We believe that authentic action is the natural outcome of a project driven from passion and interest.

Parent Guidelines:

You can help motivate your child by simply taking an interest in the project. By all means help organise, proof-read work, ask questions, challenge and discuss ideas, and supervise experiments. But please, do not do any of the work for your child. They will present their science project in the BOIIA Celebration of Science. Parents, Whānau and people from the community will be invited to engage with students and their projects.

We have chosen not to participate in the Top Energy Science Fair in 2018. We believe that student inquiries are too restricted by the ‘one size fits all’ approach to presenting learning in a strict, inflexible approach on science boards. While our student inquiries will be structured according to good scientific method we want to offer our students the flexibility to present their research publicly in a method most appropriate to their findings.