MAKING SENSE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD: LEVEL 2

ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES

Students can

group familiar objects, using observable physical properties, e.g., how hard, how flexible, whether it floats;
investigate and communicate differences in the properties of similar types of materials;
investigate and describe everyday changes to common substances, e.g., evaporation, condensation, dissolving, melting;
use simple technology to demonstrate and explain methods which prevent or promote change in materials, e.g., food preservation, painting, cooking.

Students could be learning by:

predicting, and then recording, whether a range of objects will float or sink as an exercise in the grouping of materials;
grouping plastics, metals, wood, powders, etc., according to properties such as hardness, flexibility, solubility, or lustre;
working in groups to investigate different properties, such as the strength of wet and dry paper towels;
surveying and reporting on the properties of commonly used plastics in the classroom;
investigating common types of physical change, e.g., dissolving sugar in drinks, making jelly, melting ice;
making popcorn to observe and describe a way that heat promotes change;
predicting the effect of leaving different foods in the sun, and working in groups to plan and carry out a 'fair test' based on their predictions;
exploring condensation by writing in the condensation on a window or breathing on a cold mirror and offering explanations for what is happening;
reading about how people prepare and spin wool to make clothes and carpets;
using their senses, e.g., smell, to monitor the changes in milk which is refrigerated compared with milk which is left in a warm room.

ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES

Teachers and students could assess the students':

ability to categorise objects, when the students group a set of objects and justify their decisions;
understanding of the difference in the properties of similar types of materials, when the students carry out and chart the results of a test to determine the best cloth for mopping up a liquid spill;
understanding of changes to everyday substances, when the students make a poster showing common substances that are soluble or non-soluble in water;
ability to investigate the condensation which occurs, when the students have observed condensation forming on an ice-filled jar;
understanding of ways to prevent change in substances, when the students select from a list the items which should be stored in the refrigerator and explain the reasons for their choice.