The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades
According to the National Curriculum, science is a mandatory content area at all education levels and in all types of schools. In Grades 1 to 3, science as part and parcel of integrated teaching content is expected to yield 10 learning outcomes (written in “can do” statements). Among these, there are research skills (e.g., students observe and conduct simple scientific experiments, analyze them, and associate the reason with the result), explanations (e.g., students explain how natural phenomena depend on the seasons), knowledge of facts (e.g., students name body parts and internal organs of humans and animals), and practical knowledge (e.g., students know the basic rules of healthy nutrition and the basic threats in the world of plants and the world of animals, and actively participate in environmental protection in their local area).
In Grades 4 to 6, there is a separate subject called Nature (przyroda). The National Curriculum lists five teaching objectives for this subject:
- Arousing curiosity about nature
- Respect for nature
- Constructing and verifying hypotheses of natural phenomena and processes
- Observation, measurement, and experimentation
- Practical use of knowledge about nature
The expected learning outcomes for Nature are organized under the following 15 headings:
- Me and My Surroundings
- Orientation in the Field
- Observations, Natural Experiments, and Modeling
- The Nearest Neighborhood
- Man and the Environment
- Properties of Substances
- Landscapes of Poland and Europe
- The Human Organism
- Health and Health Care
- Electrical and Magnetic Phenomena in Nature
- Earth in the Universe
- Lands and Oceans
- Landscapes of the World
- Transformation of Substances
- Motion and Forces in Nature
The National Curriculum emphasizes the use of the scientific method in class (e.g., posing questions or putting forward hypotheses, making observations, and taking measurements).
At the lower secondary level (Grades 7 to 9), science is divided into four subjects: Geography, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The curriculum thoroughly describes the teaching objectives for each subject. Biology, for example, is described in terms of the following five teaching objectives:
- Searching for, using, and producing information
- Reasoning and argumentation
- Methodology of biological research
- Biological diversity and basic biological processes
- Conditions of human health
The expected learning outcomes for Biology are organized under the following 10 headings:
- Chemical Compounds of Organisms
- Structure and Functions of Cells
- Taxonomy—Principles of classification, methods of identification, and diversity of organisms
- Ecology
- Structure and Functions of Plants, based on the example of the magnoliophyta plant
- Structure and functions of the human organism
- Health and Morbidity
- Genetics
- Evolution of Life
- Global and Local Environmental Problems
The other science subjects are described in a similar way.