Gartree Science CITIZENSHIP Page

This webpage lists Scientific topics that link to the idea of Citizenship.

In Double Science, there are certain topics that link to the idea of Citizenship.

Keeping Ourselves Safe and Healthy

  • In Year 7 we look at Health and Safety in laboratory work, e.g. hazard symbols and safe ways of working like using eye protection. Keeping ourselves and others safe is something we all need to think about in everything we do.
  • Year 7s discuss parenting in the Reproduction course, and in Year 11 the Inheritance and Selection module covers inherited diseases and issues like the Genetic Modification of Organisms. Both of these are topics we need to think about because they will affect us in some way. In Year 8 we discuss smoking and diet in relation to health.
  • Year 8 pupils study the Environment and the impact that humans have had upon it. Ideas like Recycling, Renewable Resources, Pollution and the use of Energy carry over into our lives. We can do something about how we use the World's resources. We can choose to be wasteful or careful. This idea is followed up in greater detail at Key Stage 4, where year 10s look at the economics of utilising natural resources, the efficiency of energy use and the issue of Global Warming. At year 11 the module on environment covers Acid Rain, Pollution, Global Warming and Ozone Depletion.

    Learning How to Discover and Understand Information

  • But maybe the most special part of the Science course that links to Citizenship is the idea of fair testing and scientific investigation. We are always being told things which may or may not be true. How can we find out what is correct? Scientific thinking is one way to see if we can trust the information we are being given. Finding things out is a very important part of the science course and a very important part of being a human being too. The great discoveries and inventions came from people who wanted to find things out. Darwin and Mendeleev for example. The skills we use in science lessons are the same skills that they used in their work.
  • Science also teaches us that in an experiment a "wrong answer" can be a very useful answer. You need never feel bad about getting something wrong as long as it helps you to get it right, or at least a bit more right, next time!
  • Scientists also like to see evidence to support facts and ideas. They do not automatically believe what they are told. They set out to do their best to prove theories wrong, because that is the best way to test them. If you can not show a "fact" is wrong, then maybe it is true. Until we learn more.

    All these ideas carry over into Citizenship:

  • Curiosity and Inventiveness.
  • Research, Prediction and Investigation.
  • Not automatically believing everything you are told.
  • Not being afraid to get a wrong answer and learn from it.

    Famous Lincolnshire people who used these methods of reasoning include Newton, Boole and Thomas Paine, Harrison, Banks and Franklin. See: Famous Lincolnshire

    For information on the "Hot Topics" of Science, read the New Scientist

    ©2007