Ark Schools Science Mastery Course

Ark Curriculum Plus—an education charity with a large network of schools—had developed a KS3 Science Mastery course, based on our ‘Blueprint Y7–11 curriculum plan’, to build strong substantive knowledge in students. However, as with many science curricula, the "Working Scientifically" (scientific enquiry) strand was beginning to be squeezed out.

Students were carrying out practical work, but the activities tended to be "recipes" rather than opportunities to think and act like scientists. Ark partnered with Mastery Science to audit their existing Science Mastery units. We used our curriculum design expertise to identify where genuine enquiry could be built into the existing framework, without diluting the rigorous science content, and to ensure practical activities drew students into prediction, analysis and explanation.

We focused on three main principles:

1. From recipes to vehicles for enquiry

We reviewed existing practical activities and reshaped them as vehicles for enquiry. For example, in the friction unit, rather than simply observing friction, we restructured the lesson so that students first used a theoretical model to generate a hypothesis, then planned and carried out an investigation to test it.

2. "Just-in-time" skill development

Rather than teaching skills in isolation, we identified the point at which a student needed a particular skill to move their understanding on. We grouped these as:

  • Enable: Skills students need to investigate or test a key concept (e.g. how to measure accurately to gather valid data).

  • Explain: Skills students need to make sense of what they have found (e.g. how to construct an argument from evidence).

3. Systematic strategy instruction

To build fluency in the 25 key Working Scientifically strategies, we used a whole–part–whole approach. Strategies are often too complex to learn in one go, so we start with the whole context, break it down into component skills for explicit teaching, and then bring it back together so students can apply the strategy confidently and flexibly.

For teaching individual skills within a strategy, we used the EDGE sequence:

  • Explain: Clarify the need for the skill within the larger strategy and where it fits.

  • Demonstrate: Show a worked example.

  • Guide: Provide coaching and support as students try it.

  • Empower: Give time for independent practice.

The collaboration led to a coherent set of enhancements to the Science Mastery course, so that enquiry skills were no longer an add-on but built in alongside the substantive content.