Science
“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.”
Adam Smith, ‘The Wealth of Nations’, 1776.
Science at Cargilfield aims to enable children to develop their
knowledge and understanding of the world they live in through
systematic investigation of aspects of that world.
It is characterised, in very general terms, by three different
questions.
What?
“Science is the systematic classification of experience.”
George Henry Lewes, 1817-78
In the Pre-Prep, science is taught on a topic basis as part
of the Environmental Studies curriculum. Children are helped
and encouraged to find out about the world around them and
their part in it. They seek the answers to questions such
as: ‘What sort of things do we
eat? What is magnetism? What do we use different materials
for?’
In the Upper School, the pupils have access to specialist
teaching and the use of a fine new laboratory, complete with
separate theory and practical areas and interactive whiteboard.
Here we follow a syllabus that takes the best components
of both the 5-14 and the National Curriculum and leads the
children on a smooth progression up to the examinations they
take in their final years.
How?
“Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.”
George Santayana, 1863-1952, ‘The Life of Reason’.
In the lower part of the upper school, we see a transition
to the teaching of science as a discrete subject.
At this level we try to take the next step and seek to answer
questions such as: ‘How can I
separate this mixture of chemicals? How do animals adapt
to extreme environmental conditions? How do bulbs behave
in different circuits?’
Experiments in the LabWhy?
“Science is facts; just as houses are made of stone, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house, and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.”
Jules Henri Poincaré, 1854-1912
At the top of the school, the syllabus pupils follow the Common Entrance syllabus (based on KS3 of the National Curriculum). Here they are exposed to some of the more complex and demanding ideas of science, The kinetic theory of matter, evolutionary biology, reactivity and chemical change. Here they seek answers to questions such as: ‘Why do we get rainbows? Why do I look like my parents? Why do these chemicals react faster when they are heated?’
Finding out:
“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.”
Albert Szent-Györgi, 1893-1986
The very nature of Science as a discipline has its foundations in the twin approaches of hypothesising and experimentation. This investigative approach is at the heart of Science at Cargilfield: from structured experiments such as measuring the period of a pendulum with different masses through to demanding open-ended investigations such as an investigation to determine the efficacy of various over-the-counter indigestion remedies.