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MAKING SENSE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD: LEVEL 4

ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES

Students can
  1. and
  2. investigate and offer explanations for commonly experienced physical phenomena and compare their ideas with scientific ideas, e.g., sound notes and tones, light and lenses, colours, electric current, condensation, force, speed;
  3. process and interpret information to describe or confirm trends and relationships in observable physical phenomena, e.g., brightness of lamps in circuits, temperatures of insulated and non-insulated cans, magnetic strength over distance;
  4. investigate and offer explanations of how selected items of technology function and enhance everyday activities of people, e.g., telephone, switch, spectacles, devices which open supermarket doors, bicycle tyres, bicycle helmets.

    Note: By the end of year 8 (form 2), students should have had learning experiences with light, including mirrors, prisms, and colour; heat absorption and conduction; force as a cause of change in motion; and applications of simple circuits, including torches.

SAMPLE LEARNING CONTEXTS

  • Technology all around
  • Science in the media
  • Life made easier
  • Out in space
  • Falling and flying
  • Keeping it cool
  • Is it time?
  • Counting things fast
  • Who invented that?
  • Building and construction
  • Seeing things
  • How do they make...?
  • Communication
  • The future
  • Fun with wheels
  • Potaka Heketanga
  • Mihini hou

POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Students couldbe learning by:

  • describing how a stick appears bent when it is partially submerged in water to investigate refraction;
  • finding which metal from a given sample would be most suitable for making a saucepan;
  • investigating the movement of living things, e.g., people walking, running; birds flying, paddling; fish swimming;
  • checking out estimations of the weight and volume of different objects by using standard measuring equipment;
  • working in groups to find a simple circuit system to use to light a model house;
  • working in groups to describe the degree of magnification of different magnifying glasses and of water drops;
  • designing and making a poster that illustrates how a telephone works;
  • carrying out individual investigations into the workings of no-longer-functioning (and safe) electrically powered devices;
  • presenting a group report on a visit to a local factory which makes an item of everyday technology.

ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES

Teachers and students could assess the students':

  • understanding of how light helps people see, when the students draw a diagram showing their ideas of how light travels from the sun to help a person see a tree;
  • ability to work in a group, when they investigate and report on the effectiveness of group-made timing devices;
  • ability to review their work, when the students explain and evaluate their group's attempt to make a package to slow the melting of an ice cube;
  • ability to communicate, when individual students investigate and present a report on how a mechanical toy works;
  • research skills, when the students find out details about the inventor and invention of an item of everyday technology, such as a telephone.

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