MAKING SENSE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD: LEVEL 1

ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES

Students can

explore simple physical properties and use them to describe and group everyday materials, e.g., shape, texture, colour, size, and smell;
clarify and communicate their own ideas on appropriate choices of materials for familiar activities based on simple, easily observable properties, e.g., clothing for wet weather; shoes for walking, running, and working; toys for bath-time;
investigate how familiar materials change when heated or cooled, e.g., water, meat, eggs;
talk about the use of familiar technology in the home to change or preserve materials, e.g., cooking and using stoves, cooling and using refrigerators.

Students could be learning by:

interpreting a simple graph, made by the class, of the items in a class activity box to develop the skills of identification and grouping of materials;
sorting objects in the classroom, using simple headings, such as paper, glass, wood, and plastic;
identifying and categorising objects, using 'feely' bags;
choosing appropriate materials to make a model of an animal from a range of given materials;
working in a small group to devise a set of questions to ask an expert, such as a dental therapist, health nurse, gardener, builder, baker, or engineer about the materials they use in their work;
investigating the best materials people could use to wrap either takeaway fish and chips or an ice block which is to be brought home;
looking at what happens to ice blocks when they are left in the sun;
clarifying ideas on the ingredients that are needed to bake biscuits during a shared reading of a recipe;
baking bread, or making flavoured ice blocks, to show how some materials change with changing conditions;
drying flowers, by using a press, to see how things change when they are dried;
making paper from newsprint to clarify ideas on appropriate devices needed for its production;
investigating how things kept in a refrigerator stay fresh longer than if they are kept in a warm room.

ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES

Teachers and students could assess the students':

understanding of the properties of an object, when the students describe it in terms of shape, colour, texture, size, and smell so that it can be recognised by a classmate;
understanding of the simple properties of some materials, when the students select from a range of materials, e.g., boxes, bottles, blankets, those suitable for building a model bridge;
knowledge of how a common substance can change, when the students draw a picture of what happens when an ice cube is left out of the freezer;
understanding of appropriate technology to preserve materials, when the students select pictures or photographs of food and explain where each item should be stored.