During Term 1 we will be looking at the Physical Sciences. Physical sciences refers to the study of nature and properties of matter and energy. Physical Sciences includes, heat, light, sound, electricity, magnetism, forces, forms of energy, and the structure of atoms.

Reception students will be investigating how objects move and how factors including their size, shape or material influence their movement. This will include: 

• observing how toys move, and grouping them based on their movement

• observing and describing ways different and unusually shaped objects such as blocks, tubes or eggs move when rolled down a slope

• comparing the way different-sized, similar-shaped objects such as tennis balls, golf balls, marbles or basketballs roll and bounce

• exploring how the material a ball is made from affects the way it moves, such as plastic, foam, cloth or rubber balls on a surface

• exploring how the size and shape of traditional instructive toys used by First Nations Australians influence their movement.

Junior Primary students will explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate. This will include:

• building vocabulary for describing sound, such as loudness and pitch, and comparing sounds made by musical instruments

• exploring different ways to produce sound using familiar objects and actions such as striking, blowing, scraping, plucking and shaking

• exploring how traditional musical instruments used by First Nations Australians produce their characteristic sounds

• observing vibrations produced by a twanged ruler held on a desk and experimenting with different ways of holding or positioning the ruler to produce observably different vibrations and sounds

• investigating how sound energy makes things vibrate such as when speaking, using tuning forks or observing music speakers

• investigating which materials best muffle sound

• designing and making instruments that produce different sounds, such as drums, rain makers, thongophones or box guitars

• discussing situations in which they have heard echoes and exploring how humans with vision impairment and other animals such as dolphins and bats use echolocation to locate objects in their environments.

Middle Primary students will identify how forces can be exerted by one object on another and investigate the effect of frictional, gravitational and magnetic forces on the motion of objects. This will include:

• exploring the effect of magnets on other magnets and how magnetic forces can pull objects from a distance

• exploring the positive and negative effects of friction on their everyday experiences, such as how friction causes objects to slow down and stop

• recognising that gravity is the force that pulls all objects to towards the centre of Earth and that gravitational force acts on an object regardless of whether it is moving or not moving

• observing how the pushing force of a liquid enables an object to float

• investigating the effect of forces on the movement of objects in traditional First Nations Australians’ children’s instructive toys and games

• examining shoe sole design and identifying patterns in sole design and use related to friction

• watching a video of astronauts walking on the moon or dropping objects on its surface, and discussing the force they are observing.

• exploring how force arrows can be used to represent the direction and magnitude of forces acting on an object

Upper Primary students will investigate the transfer and transformation of energy in electrical circuits, including the role of circuit components, insulators and conductors. This will include:

• identifying necessary components for an electric circuit such as a source of electrical energy and conducting material such as metal wires

• constructing a real or virtual circuit to examine requirements to allow the flow of electricity, including exploring the construction and role of switches

• constructing representations of electrical circuits and their components using accepted conventions

• examining the purpose of different components such as switches and bulbs and exploring use of ammeters to measure current

• investigating different electrical conductors and insulators and examining why they may be used

• exploring how electricity is used in the home and identifying electrical hazards and safety measures used to mitigate these hazards.