Science
What is tested
Inquiry process skills and core content in life, physical, and earth/space science, plus safety, misconceptions, and integrated STEM.
Inquiry and process skills
Children observe, compare, classify, measure, predict, infer, and communicate. The 5E model runs Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate - exploration precedes explanation, so children build ideas from evidence before the teacher names and formalizes them. Hands-on alone is not inquiry: children must record, discuss, and revise their thinking.
Typical early childhood content
- Life science: needs of living things, life cycles, plant parts, habitats.
- Physical science: properties and states of matter, motion, magnets, light and shadow, sink and float.
- Earth and space: weather, seasons, rocks and soil, day and night, water.
- Engineering: design, build, test, and improve with simple materials.
Worked example
During sink-and-float exploration, a child predicts a large plastic ball will sink 'because it is big.' Reasoning: the child uses size as a stand-in for weight, a common and developmentally expected misconception, not carelessness. Respond with comparison objects of similar size but different mass, and have the child record a prediction before each test. Do not hand over the rule; let the evidence conflict with the prediction so the child must revise.
Safety
Non-negotiable: approved materials, constant supervision, handwashing, allergen awareness, goggles when needed, and no tasting of unknowns.
Traps
Confusing a prediction with an inference; counting a teacher demonstration as student inquiry; front-loading vocabulary before any exploration; trying to correct a misconception with a definition instead of discrepant evidence.