MAKING SENSE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD: LEVEL 4

ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES

Students can

investigate and group common materials in terms of properties, e.g., solubility, melting points, acidity, conductivity;
investigate and explain how uses of everyday materials are related to their physical and simple chemical properties, e.g., fabrics, metals, plastics, household substances;
investigate and describe ways of producing permanent or temporary changes in some familiar materials, e.g., heating, mixing two or more substances;
investigate the positive and negative effects of substances on people and on the environment, e.g., petroleum products, fertilisers, acid rain.

Note: Distinctions between physical and chemical properties and physical and chemical change are not an expected outcome at this level.

Students could be learning by:

classifying the items found in the art cupboard at school by their physical properties;
using extracts of flowers to investigate the colour changes which occur when common household substances, such as ammonia, baking soda, vinegar, or bleach are added;
reading and summarising a School Journal article on preventing corrosion on a metal bridge;
comparing the effectiveness of commercial insect repellent to that of kawakawa leaf extract;
finding out about the safe use of some common household materials;
devising the most effective way to cool a hot cup of tea;
investigating the rusting of iron to explore ideas on permanent change;
examining the effects of heat on materials to observe changes;
visiting a recycling plant or sewage disposal plant to observe waste disposal methods;
surveying and reporting on the solid forms of pollution on a local recreation area;
using the results of their own investigations to debate the effect of chemical use on the local environment;
interpreting a chart depicting the hazards of certain chemicals and procedures in case of accidents or spills.

ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES

Teachers and students could assess the students':

ability to group common substances, using a simple property, when the students do a home project using cold tea to test the acidity of various household substances;
understanding of how the use of everyday materials is related to their properties, when the students test the strength of fibres;
understanding of the effect of combining familiar substances, when the students report on their observations before and after adding baking soda to vinegar;
understanding of the impact of a waste material on the environment, when the students write a letter to the local council suggesting ways to improve the local environment;
understanding of the environmental and economic issues involved, when the students research and write an article for a newspaper on the impact of a local industry.