Getting started
Using the Levels Mountain to help lesson planning
The Levels Mountains are very effective tools to help teachers plan and pitch their lessons. We have developed teacher planning sheets which many teachers have found to be very useful for both for themselves and to support the role of any Learning Support Assistants that they may have working with their class.
Download Primary LM Planner as a PDF
Download KS3 LM Planner as a PDF
The new KS3 National Curriculum explains the importance of Science, "The study of Science fires pupils' curiosity about phenomena in the world around them and offers opportunities to find explanations.. Experimentation and modelling are used to develop and evaluate explanations, encouraging critical and creative thought." With the reduction in prescribed curriculum content we believe that using the Levels Mountain and Thinking Frames Approach offer an ideal vehicle to deliver upon these objectives.
Quality classroom experiences are needed in order that children are able to form their own ideas and explanations of scientific phenomena. Children must have regular opportunities to interact with a range of scientific phenomena first hand through supported practical work and discussions with their peers and their teachers. Only through this will they be able to form their own mental models and understanding.
The idea of visualizing progression through Science is to share with the children what they need to do to make progress. It is not the intention of the Levels Mountain to encourage teachers to accelerate learning or rush children through the levels or to spend less time on 'lower level' activities. In other words, it is not about climbing the mountain as quickly as you can - it's about the quality of the journey, knowing where you are and what you need to do to progress to the next level. This is especially true for younger primary children as it is absolutely vital to embed quality practical experiences and the acquisition of vocabulary. Only through these will children be able to develop the resources for the thinking skills that they will require to engage in describing and explaining the science involved. For this reason using the Levels Mountain explicitly as a learning tool with the children (either as posters, displays, or PowerPoint presentations etc) is something that we would tend to encourage only for Year 5/6 and KS3 children.