MAKING SENSE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD: LEVEL 3
ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES
Students can
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- investigate and describe their ideas about some commonly experienced physical phenomena to develop their understanding of those phenomena, e.g., temperature, simple electric circuits, motion, evaporation rates, movement down slides, heat conduction;
- explore and identify trends and relationships associated with easily observable physical phenomena, e.g., speed and stopping distance, bounce and type of ball, flexibility and thickness, bulb brightness and number of cells;
- investigate and describe how selected items of everyday technology work and affect our lives, e.g., mechanical toys, torches, inertial seat belts, burglar alarms, garment insulation.
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Note: By the end of year 6 (standard 4), students should have had learning experiences with light, sound, motion, magnets, and simple electrical circuits involving batteries and bulbs.
SAMPLE LEARNING CONTEXTS
- Toys
- Flight
- Electricity around us
- Music
- Moving fast
- Shifting water
- Staying healthy
- How hot is it?
- Slipping and sliding
- Māori ball games
- Falling and flying
- Is it safe?
- Tawhirimatea
- Mihini hou
- Rerenga
POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Students could be learning by:
- compiling a list of instructions for making and using a siphon, along with suggested explanations for why it works in this way;
- constructing simple air thermometers and recording temperatures at different times of the day;
- making Cartesian divers and speculating on reasons why they work;
- finding out about the bounce time of a different number of pupils on a trampoline;
- designing and making simple rubber-band-driven devices and testing their performance;
- investigating the behaviour of falling objects and ways of slowing their fall, e.g., paper parachutes;
- comparing the heat build up in cars parked in the sun when they have their windows either open or closed;
- investigating the bounce height of different balls;
- measuring the apparent loss of weight of a stone in water to gather information on buoyancy;
- writing an explanation of how a water clock works after they have made their own timepieces;
- investigating the connection between the key and the movement of a wind-up car;
- taking a torch to pieces to find out how the bulb is connected to the battery;
- questioning an electrician about the insulation of electrical equipment.
ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES
Teachers and students could assess the students':
- understanding of expansion, when the students explain how a thermometer works;
- ability to work co-operatively in groups, when the students investigate the grip of different types of shoe soles;
- interpretation skills, when the students produce a group report on their findings on the insulation of different materials;
- ability to construct a kite which is easy to launch and control, when they demonstrate how it flies;
- ability to test and record the bounce heights of different types of balls, when they carry out a planned investigation;
- reporting skills, when the students carry out individual studies of how a toy works and report back to the class;
- understanding of how to make a torch bulb glow, when the students present an explanation of their simple circuit for a torch;
- information-gathering skills, when the students write stories about how wool clothes keep them warm in winter after they have done research on the topic;
- ability to link new and old ideas, when the students consider the effects of an electrical power 'blackout' lasting two days;
- design and appraisal skills, when the students construct their own torch and compare it with a commercial one.
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