Resources for teaching and learning science

The provision of a range of resources will be necessary to enable children to undertake investigations in science. It is recommended that individual schools draw up a list of equipment required to implement the programme for science which is envisaged in the school policy.

Many aspects of the science programme require materials (e.g. scissors, glue, ruler, string, paint) that are used in other areas of the curriculum. Some science topics will require consumable materials such as sand, sugar, salt or dried foods. Other topics will require items of domestic reclaimable waste which can be readily collected, for example, plastic bottles, jars, tins, lids, thread spools, and yoghurt pots.

Table 1 identifies materials which may be required to implement the various strands and strand units of the science programme. Table 2 lists the equipment and materials which may be essential for the implementation of a designing and making component of the curriculum. Some of these materials may only be obtained from specialist science suppliers. Individual schools should decide which of these items are pertinent to their needs.