P–6 Curriculum Planning Model
At our school students enjoy Science learning experiences that include exploring Earth and Space, researching living and non-living things, learning about electricity using circuits and buzzer games, melting experiments and making slime.
Earth and Space Sciences
A Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To identify different uses of one of Earth’s resources and describe ways to conserve it. To use informal measurements to make observations.
Years 3–4: To describe how natural processes and human activity cause changes to Earth’s surface. To investigate the erosion process, record observations, compare predictions with their observations and explain their findings.
Years 5–6: To explain how natural events cause rapid changes to Earth’s surface and identify historical and cultural contributions that help minimise the impact of natural disasters.
B Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To describe objects and events that they encounter in their everyday lives. To describe changes in the local environment. To respond to questions and sort and share observations.
Years 3–4: To explain the cause of everyday observations on Earth, including night and day, sunrise and sunset, and shadows, and use diagrams and other representations to communicate ideas.
Years 5–6: To describe key features of the solar system. To describe how science knowledge develops from many people's contributions and explain how scientific developments have affected people's lives and solved problems. To communicate ideas using multimodal texts.
Biological Sciences
A Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To describe and represent the changes to a living thing in its life stages. To compare the life stages of two different living things.
Years 3–4: To understand how relationships of living things impact on their life cycle. To describe situations when science is used to understand the effect of actions, and organise and communicate findings.
Years 5–6: To develop an investigable question and design an investigation into simple cause-and-effect relationships including identifying variables to be changed and measured and potential safety risks. To collect, organise and interpret data to identify environmental factors that contribute to mould growth in bread and explain how scientific knowledge helps to solve problems.
B Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To describe how different places meet the needs of living things. To respond to questions and share observations with others.
Years 3–4: To group living things based on observable features and distinguish them from non-living things.
Years 5–6: To analyse how the form of living things enables them to function in their environments. Students use environmental data when suggesting explanations for difference in structural features of creatures. Students communicate ideas using multimodal texts.
Physical Sciences
A Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To design a toy that will move with a push or a pull, and describe a change to the toy and how it affects the toy’s movement. To pose an investigation question and make a prediction about the toy’s movement. To represent and communicate observations and ideas.
Years 3–4: To conduct an investigation about how contact and non-contact forces are exerted on an object. To design and investigate their own forces game, make a prediction, collect data and identify patterns. To identify when science is used to understand the effect of their actions.
Years 5–6: To analyse requirements for the transfer of electricity in a circuit and describe how energy can be transformed from one form to another to generate electricity. To explain how scientific knowledge is used to assess energy sources selected for a specific purpose.
B Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects. To share and reflect on observations and ask questions about familiar objects. To participate in a guided investigation designing a sound instrument, and describe the effects of interacting with it.
Years 3–4: To conduct an investigation into the behaviour of heat to explain everyday observations. To describe how science investigations can be used to respond to questions. To describe how safety and fairness were considered and use diagrams and other representations to communicate ideas.
Years 5–6: To plan, predict and conduct a fair investigation to explain everyday phenomena associated with the transfer of light. To describe how scientific developments have affected people's lives and help us solve problems. To describe ways to improve the fairness of their investigation and communicate ideas and findings.
Chemical Sciences
A Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To investigate the combination of materials used to make an object for a particular purpose. To record and represent observations and communicate ideas.
Years 3–4: To investigate the observable properties of ochre mixtures and explain how they can be used in real-life situations
Years 5–6: To plan and conduct an investigation into reversible and irreversible changes, including identifying variables to be changed and measured, describing potential safety risks, identifying improvements to methods and constructing texts to communicate ideas, methods and findings.
B Cycle
Prep–Year 2: To describe the effects of physically changing a material to make a boat that floats. To make a prediction, participate in a guided investigation and record and share observations.
Years 3–4: To conduct an investigation about liquids and solids changing state when heat is added or taken away. To make a prediction, record observations and suggest reasons for findings. To describe how safety and fairness were considered.
Years 5–6: To plan, conduct and evaluate an investigation into a variable that affects evaporation. To describe and apply knowledge of the physical properties of solids, liquids and gases. To communicate ideas and findings using multimodal texts.
The P–6 Curriculum Planning Model for Science is based on a 2 year A/B cycle of C2C Science units. Each cycle consists of 4units that have been chosen to ensure a range and balance of text types and assessment types across the year. Each unit contains assessment alignment planners and assessment tasks for each year level.