To instil curiosity and an inquiring mind for Science and the world around them.
Provide a holistic Science education through innovative yet fun programmes to increase their knowledge and instil a love in the world around them.
At Nan Chiau Primary School, we believe that every child is curious about the world they live in and that Science is a part of our daily life around us. The learning of Science takes place beyond classrooms to make Science relevant to the real world around them.
Central to the curriculum framework for Primary Science is the inculcation of the spirit of scientific inquiry. Our Science teachers equipped them with relevant skills and attitudes as well as provide them with experiences which stimulate their curiosity about themselves and the world around them.
SEAMLESS LEARNING PROGRAMME
Our students live in a digital world, and the use of technologies such as instant messaging, video sharing, photo sharing, social network tools, podcasting and blogging are integrated into their lifestyles. The use of these technologies facilitates communication, collaboration, sharing and learning in informal settings with their peers, friends and family unbounded by time and location.
One of the fundamental challenges for the 21st century learners is not only what they learn, but also how and when they learn. Seamless learning is designed to help students develop Science process skills, positive habits of mind and ethics/attitudes necessary for scientific inquiry.
With the mobile technologies at hand, students can learn seamlessly—both in classroom and out of classroom, both within and after school curriculum time. The learning space is no longer defined by the ‘class’ but by ‘learning’ unconstrained by scheduled class hours or specific locations.
Our NCPS Science teachers are always coming up with creative and innovative strategies to make learning fun and meaningful for our students. One of the strategies is to engage the pupils in simple hands-on activities. Students explore and experiment Science activities during their recess break, allowing the students to learn as they play.
Our garden provides green pockets of garden landscape in the school which serves both aesthetic and educational purposes. There are habitats for butterflies, plots of flowering plants, fruit trees, herbs, cacti and climbers, and a rotting log and leaf litter. It is common that students get to spot some ‘visitors’ to our gardens like caterpillars, butterflies and birds. The garden also features an eco-pond complete with a huge clear glass tank and submerged water plants and a wooden viewing platform.
Our garden acts as the ‘outdoor’ classroom, for students to be engaged in exploring different species of plants and animals in their natural environment. This provides them an outdoor experiential learning opportunity to learn and know more about the different plants and animals around them.
Our school currently has 2 Science laboratories – Einstein Room and Newton Room for students to experiment and participate in hands-on activities.
In making Science concepts relevant, the students are brought outdoors to various places in Singapore to allow them the opportunity to see, feel, touch and hear the natural environment and understand the concepts behind what they observe in their surroundings.
P3@THE SINGAPORE ZOO
As part of the P3 Seamless Learning programme, all the Primary 3 students visited the Singapore Zoo to learn more about the Animal Kingdom. They were tasked to complete a few online activities which were accessed via the smart devices. Through this experiential learning, they were exposed to the different groups of animals and their characteristics and experienced authentic learning in a real zoo environment.
P6@NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
P6 students were brought to NTU to learn Science beyond their syllabus. The school collaborated with the Materials of Science Engineering to share more on Nanotechnology, the science of changing matter at the smallest (‘supramolecular’) level. Various kinds of materials such as medicines, mobile phones, ultra-fast computer chips are built on this incredibly small scale by modifying the properties of materials.