SCIENCE

AIMS

• Provide suitable, practically-based courses which will provide all students with a worthwhile and enriching experience;
• Enable students to acquire an understanding and knowledge of the concepts, principles and applications of science and their relevance in a technological world;
• Develop the abilities, skills and attitudes which are relevant to the safe practice and study of science and are useful in everyday life;
• Stimulate curiosity, interest and enjoyment in science and a caring and responsible attitude to its application both beneficial and detrimental, to the individual, the community and the environment;
• Enable students to recognise the usefulness and limitations of the scientific method and its application in everyday life;
• Create the realisation that scientific investigation is a cumulative process, influenced by social, moral and cultural factors and requiring co-operation, honesty, perseverance, open-mindedness and independence of thought;
• Develop an awareness of mankind’s scientific heritage and achievements and their contributions to everyday life;
• Dispel the stereotyping and mythology associated with science and scientists and;
• Implement the aims of the Science Department using a range of teaching and learning approaches. These include individual and group work, the use of secondary sources to encourage research skills, brainstorming, teacher demonstration, student group discussion, utilising external expertise and having educational excursions.