The Curriculum Challenge

Access to the National Curriculum for Pupils with Learning Difficulties

Rob Ashdown, Barry Carpenter, Keith Bovair

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781138318229
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429846595
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Originally published in 1991. The introduction of the National Curriculum has presented many challenges for those concerned with the education of children and young people. One of the questions has been how to guarantee access to the National Curriculum for individuals with special educational needs. This book seeks to illustrate how this could be achieved in the case of those pupils with severe learning difficulties (SLD). In doing so the book offers principles and examples of practice, aiming to be relevant to the education of all pupils with special educational needs (SEN).

Section Two

Responding to the Challenge

4 Approaches to Science

Linda Howe

Introduction

The entitlement of all pupils to the scientific curriculum is clearly established. Science for all does not, however, mean that the same science should be provided for all pupils. This chapter examines how the framework of the National Curriculum for Science can be adapted in ways which make it relevant for pupils with a range of learning difficulties.

Why Provide a Scientific Curriculum?

Although some pupils may well experience difficulties in fully understanding the concepts or developing the skills involved in scientific tasks, there are many good reasons for including science activities in their curriculum. These include:

pupils enjoy scientific activities;

scientific activities are practical, first hand and relate to current experiences;

scientific activities can be set in a range of contexts which allow safe exploration of the home and local environment without the pupils having to acquire facts or theories;

scientific activities can be adapted to suit varying levels and can be carefully structured with easily achievable targets;

scientific skills are not dependent on previously acquired language or number skills.

Teachers may also find scientific activities a useful tool for evaluating pupils’ needs and monitoring progress.

Figure 4.1: The National Curriculum for Science

Examining the National Curriculum for Science

The National Curriculum for Science (DES and Welsh Office, 1989) outlines the areas of science which provide a broad and balanced minimum entitlement. In establishing Science as a core subject in the curriculum for pupils with severe learning difficulties (SLD), the framework provided by the Programmes of Study becomes the basis of planning schemes of work. Figure 4.1 shows the composition of the National Curriculum for Science with explanatory comments. It shows how the Programmes of Study and their corresponding Attainment Targets can be grouped into three blocks: Living Things (containing three Attainment Targets); Forces and Energy (containing four Attainment Targets); and Materials in the Environment (containing five Attainment Targets). These three areas of study can be used to ensure that pupils receive a balanced range of scientific experiences. They can form a framework which sets the context for planning themes and activities on a termly or preferably on a two-yearly basis. Before examining how these areas can be used to plan balanced topics, it is worthwhile considering the sorts of activities which pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) and pupils with SLD can undertake.

The following section contains a summary of the Key Stage 1 requirements for the three main areas of science together with a very small selection of examples of the many possible appropriate activities.

Living Things

Pupils should have opportunities to observe a wide variety of living things. They should help to care for living things and find out about their needs. Pupils should find out about themselves, their needs and the differences between themselves and other pupils. They should consider how to keep themselves healthy and identify parts of their bodies and plants. They should be aware of new and extinct life.

PMLD groups
Animals and plants, or parts of them, can be brought into the classroom. Pupils can feel, smell and look at a wide variety of life forms from worms to pets, from tree bark to holly leaves and from sea shells to sheep’s wool. Tapes of animal noises or bird song can be used to extend the range of sensory experiences. Individuals from within and visiting the class can be named and different sizes of clothing tried on.

SLD groups
Pupils can visit farms, wildlife parks and bird gardens to find out about the different creatures, their homes and their food needs. They can grow seeds and care for these and classroom pets and mini-beasts. Weeds can be taken apart and sorted into sets of leaves, roots, and stems. Songs and games can help to identify body parts and clothes can be sorted into sets which fit and do not fit. Baby clothes can be tried on and pupils’ appearance can be compared, using mirrors to look at selves. Favourite tastes can be looked at, (from food to TV programmes). Pupils can tear or cut out leaf shapes and visit the school grounds or local park to see how many of that shape of leaf they can find. Skill games, (for example, how many pegs can you get on a line in three minutes), develop an awareness of pupils’ own capabilities.

Forces and Energy

Pupils should explore how pushes and pulls can make things move, speed up, swerve and change shape. They should find out that toys move in different ways and that some things use electricity and can be dangerous. They should use batteries, bulbs and magnets. Pupils should investigate the food we eat and hot and cold, including the effects of heating and cooling. They should explore different ways of making light and experience sorting colours, looking at shadows and exploring reflections.

PMLD groups
Pupils can be guided to touch warm hot water bottles and ice cubes. They can push shapes which will and will not roll, (for example, rolling pins and building bricks). Hands can be moved through water wearing different gloves (for example, rubber, woollen mittens, sheepskin) to feel different forces. Hands can also be moved through different substances with varying degrees of resistance (for example, sand and mud, fresh and very salty water, play dough and clay). Torches can be switched on and off in dark rooms or open boxes. Different tastes and sensations can be experienced by substances (for example, jelly and biscuits) being rubbed on lips or put in mouths.

SLD groups
Collections of things which will and will not roll can be sorted into sets, and things can be stopped from rolling or non-roll things made to roll (for example, paper plates stuck over the ends of cardboard boxes). Ways of making things roll further and faster can be found (for example, down slopes, on different surfaces). Coloured rollers can be made by filling clear plastic bottles with small coloured objects (for example, acquarium stones, water and glitter, beads, or coloured water and baby oil) or painting patterns on the outside. Noisy rollers are made by putting in stones or nails. These can be used to focus attention on the rolling object and observing what happens as it rolls. Toys can be moved across different surfaces and along the ground, through the air and through water. Boats with sails for the water tray or paper fish shapes for a floor game can be made, and ways of making winds to move them can be explored. Moving tools such as hand whisks or drills can be used, and turning things like spinners, paper windmills and hanging spirals investigated. Torches can be switched on and off and made to work (for example, changing the batteries). Light patterns can be made by moving torches around in sieves and colanders in dark rooms. Pupils can explore what a magnet can and cannot pick up. Shadow games can be played to identify and explore shadows. Pupils can see what happens to their shadows when they move, make shadows with only one leg or work with a friend to make a two-headed shadow. Simple shadow puppets can be made by sticking cut or torn shapes on sticks and moved around or towards and away from a light source. Different foods can be tasted and matched to other foods with the same or similar tastes. Pupils can explore hot and cold by melting and keeping ice cubes, mixing different things in hot and cold water and dropping food colouring into different temperatures of water.

Materials in the Environment

Pupils should investigate everyday waste products and decay. They should compare different materials, their properties and uses and explore how these materials can be changed. They should observe the natural environment, including rocks, soil and seasonal weather changes and the way these affect our lives. Pupils should experience a range of sounds, know how they are made and make their own.

PMLD groups
Pupils can run or be guided to run hands over old and new or shiny and rusty objects. They can handle a variety of materials, or have things held against them, including card, plastics, cloth — rough and smooth, rubber and metal. They can push hands in different textures such as clay and stone, sand and mud, wet and dry flour. Pupils can be taken outside in a variety of weather conditions — sun, rain, snow, fog, wind. Tapes of a variety of sounds can be played including tapes of music, household noises and traffic sounds. Pupils can be guided to shake boxes and plastic bottles which are empty or full of stones, buttons, sand or bells.

SLD groups
Collections of boxes, tins, clothes and shoes can be sorted into old and new sets. The items for a meal can be unwrapped and the different types of things compared (for example, egg shells, cardboard boxes, bottles). Packets can be examined to see if they will fit inside each other, find how much each one will hold and tested to see if they can hold water, flour or biscuits. Pupils can explore which can be torn or what happens if they are squashed. Collections of different materials can be compared for feel (for example, hide some of one material from sight in a bag; can you feel which one it is?), strength and ‘waterproofness’. Baked potatoes, ice cubes and slices of bread can be wrapped in various materials to compare insulation and how well they keep things fresh. Shakers can be made using different fillings (including some which do not produce sounds, like cotton wool) in plastic bottles with screw tops. Sounds in and around the school can be recorded on walks and visits.

Kites can be made and/or flown in different weather conditions. Pupils can feel varying strengths of wind by holding up sheets of card or strips of cloth on different days. Snow can be collected in buckets and brought inside to watch melting. Collections of different clothes can be sorted into warm/cold weather sets.

Some General Points Arising from these Activities

Many of the activities suggested for PMLD groups serve to broaden the range of sensory experiences offered. It must be noted that observation involves the use of all senses as appropriate and that touch sensations will involve other parts of the body apart from hands (for example, ice cubes on stomach).

Pupils need to experience contrasting things so that transparent collections should also contain non-transparent articles and shakers be made with quiet fillings.

Some pupils will need the basic activity extended to meet their needs such as using lengths of string to compare how far each roller travels or making a chart to show what they have found out.

Integrating Activities into Topic Work

Ensuring that pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum involves careful topic planning. One way of guaranteeing a balance in the scientific curriculum is to plan topics which relate to each of the three main areas in each year.

Figure 4.2 shows how different topics fit into the main areas and Figure 4.3 shows how this has been used as a planning aid to set a two-year cycle of themes for a group of pupils. Where pupils are likely to transfer from one group to another either at the end of the year or more frequently, this process will involve two or more teachers planning cooperatively. Consequently, continuity is ensured and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Keith Bovair
• Section One: Assessing the Challenge
• Section Two: Responding to the Challenge
• Section Three: Further Implications of the Challenge
• Section Four: The Future in the Light of the Challenge
• Notes on Contributors
• Index