Oz-e-science - Chemistry

Overview

Chemistry Foundation Year is a Chemical Sciences curriculum program for Foundation Year students. It aligns to the Australian Curriculum Science Understanding:

• Everyday materials can be physically changed in a variety of ways (ACSSU018).

In Lessons 1 to 9, students learn about:

• materials and the things we make from them
• describing the material a thing is made from
• categorising things made from natural materials
• making something useful from a natural material
• how to identify and classify natural materials that have been changed into new materials by humans
• sorting things that are made from human-made materials
• the properties of materials
• how to describe the properties of materials at discovery stations
• everyday materials with absorbent properties
• experimentation with materials to see which ones have absorbent properties
• everyday materials that have waterproof properties
• experimenting with materials to see which ones have waterproof properties
• different materials used to make shoes for a purpose
• planning and designing an umbrella that protects a gingerbread man from the rain
• making a model, experimenting and recording results to see if the waterproof umbrella protects the gingerbread man from getting wet.

• Look at the materials that everyday things are made from.
• Describe the material a thing is made from.
• Sort things based on the natural material they are made from.
• Made a model of something useful from a natural material.
• Investigate different types of materials that are human-made and the natural materials they are made from.
• Sort things based on the human-made material they are made from.
• Describe the properties of materials using two senses (touch, sight).
• Describe the properties of materials at discovery stations.
• Look at everyday materials with absorbent properties.
• Experiment with materials to see which ones have absorbent properties.
• Look at the everyday materials that have waterproof properties.
• Experiment with materials to see which ones have waterproof properties.
• Look at everyday materials that are used to make different shoes for a purpose.
• Make a model of a shoe for a purpose.
• Plan a waterproof umbrella design that protects a gingerbread man from the rain.
• Make a model of waterproof umbrellas.
• Experiment to find out if the waterproof umbrellas protect the gingerbread man from the rain and record the results.

Progress Tests

Progress tests are conducted after every second lesson, allowing teachers to monitor student understanding of the concepts taught over the past two lessons and to identify where reteaching is needed. The Teaching Guide contains the testing questions, and the Student Workbook has a section where students write their answers and score themselves.

Structured Research Activity

The Structured Research Activity (SRA) for this unit is: Students design and make a waterproof umbrella, experiment on the umbrella and report results. The SRA takes place over two lessons so students can apply the Science Understanding and Science Inquiry Skills covered in the unit. Teachers use the Guide to Making Judgements, which is included in the Teaching Guide, to mark the SRA.

End-of-Unit Assessment

The last lesson is the end-of-unit assessment, which has a variety of question formats (e.g. label the diagram, circle the correct answer) to assess student mastery of content from the unit. The end-of-unit assessment is in the Teaching Guide. Teachers copy the assessment and distribute to students at testing time.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

Overview

Chemistry Year 1 is a Chemical Sciences curriculum program for Year 1 students. It aligns to the Australian Curriculum Science Understanding:

• Everyday materials can be physically changed in a variety of ways (ACSSU018).

In Lessons 1 to 9, students learn about:

• materials that they use every day
• sorting everyday objects by what they are made of
• materials that can bend
• making a model caterpillar using the bendable material of metal
• experimenting with a material to learn about stretching
• materials that can be stretched
• materials that can be cut and/or crushed
• experimenting with materials that can be crushed
• how materials change when they are heated.
• experimenting with heating a material
• what happens when wax is cooled
• what happens to materials when cooled
• how Indigenous Australians used heating and cooling to physically change a material
• describing the ways Indigenous Australians physically changed materials
• representing an animal that will be made from air-dry clay and labelling it with the methods used to physically change the air-dry clay
• how to represent a chosen animal by making it out of air-dry clay using stretching, twisting, cutting, bending and crushing to create it
• communicating to the class the methods used to create the animal.

• Find what materials everyday objects are made from.
• Sort everyday objects by what they are made of.
• Look at materials that can be changed by bending.
• Make a model of a caterpillar using the bendable material of metal.
• Experiments with stretching various materials.
• Measure the length of each of the materials once it has been stretched.
• Find materials that stretch.
• Look at materials that can be cut and/or crushed.
• Experiment crushing a range of materials.
• Look at how materials change when they are heated.
• Experiment by heating a material.
• Observe what happens when water is cooled.
• Predict what happens to various materials when they are cooled.
• Identify how Indigenous Australians used heating and cooling to physically change a material.
• Describe ways Indigenous Australians physically change materials.
• Design and represent an animal that will be made from air dry clay.
• Label the drawing with the ways they will physically change the air-dry clay to create the animal.
• Physically change the air-dry clay to create their animal by bending,
• stretching, twisting, cutting and crushing.
• Communicate the methods used to physically change the air-dry clay to create the animal.

Progress Tests

Progress tests are conducted after every second lesson, allowing teachers to monitor student understanding of the concepts taught over the past two lessons and to identify where reteaching is needed. The Teaching Guide contains the testing questions, and the Student Workbook has a section where students write their answers and score themselves.

Structured Research Activity

The Structured Research Activity (SRA) for this unit is: Students design and make an air-dry clay animal, experiment on the animal and report results. The SRA takes place over two lessons so students can apply the Science Understanding and Science Inquiry Skills covered in the unit. Teachers use the Guide to Making Judgements, which is included in the Teaching Guide, to mark the SRA.

End-of-Unit Assessment

The last lesson is the end-of-unit assessment, which has a variety of question formats (e.g. label the diagram, circle the correct answer) to assess student mastery of content from the unit. The end-of-unit assessment is in the Teaching Guide. Teachers copy the assessment and distribute to students at testing time.

Coming soon.

Coming Soon

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

In this unit, students explore physical change while developing scientific inquiry skills like observing, modelling, predicting and testing. They investigate the properties of various materials and how actions such as bending, twisting, crushing, and mixing affect those properties. Students engage in hands-on activities, taking on roles like geologists or pizza chefs to connect learning with real-world scenarios. The unit culminates in an engineering challenge where students apply their understanding of physical changes to enhance materials in a lunch box.

In this unit, students learn about:

• objects and the materials they are made from
• physical properties including mass, surface area and volume
• measuring and comparing mass, surface size and volume
• how objects can change shape and size through physical change
• how physical changes affect shape and surface area but not mass
• solid and liquid mixtures
• how material properties make objects suitable for different purposes
• how materials can be changed or combined to improve usefulness
• how engineers test and select materials when designing objects.
  Cross-curricular with Mathematics
  The unit integrates mathematics through hands-on measurement, comparing quantities, using informal units and organising data.
• Students estimate and compare the weight of objects, measure length, mass, and capacity using informal units and record findings in simple tables.
• Students classify and compare shapes and surfaces to describe materials in scientific investigations.
• Students create basic data displays like lists, tables, and simple graphs to organise information from experiments.
• Students use number knowledge to predict totals and compare results across trials.

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

In this unit, students explore how materials behave under different conditions and their real-world applications. They compare heat transfer in metal, wood, and plastic, examine materials’ resistance to heat and degradation, and model particle arrangements to understand why some substances mix well while others do not. Investigations, such as making slime to study elasticity and creating bioplastics for sustainability, help students grasp material selection for various purposes. The unit culminates in a packaging challenge where students design, test, and refine a prototype to protect medicine supplies based on their knowledge of material properties.

In this unit, students learn about:

• pure substances, crystals and mixtures
• how combining materials creates mixtures with different properties
• density and how it varies between liquids
• heat conductivity and how materials transfer heat
• flammability and material safety
• polymers and viscoelastic materials
• decomposition and the development of bioplastics
• selecting materials for specific purposes
• planning, building and testing a design solution

  Cross-Curricular with Mathematics

• This unit integrates mathematics with science through measurement, modelling, symmetry and data analysis.
• Students measure length, mass, capacity, duration, and temperature using appropriate tools.
• Learners use mathematical modelling to represent and interpret scientific situations.
• Data is collected, organised and graphed to analyse patterns.
• Work with crystal structures reinforces line and rotational symmetry.

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

In this unit, students develop understanding of solids, liquids and gases at a molecular level. Students investigate how gas takes up space, compare properties of elements and compounds and design an experiment to grow crystals. Through experimentation and representation, students observe changes in matter and communicate findings. The unit strengthens skills in investigation, modelling and scientific explanation. 

In this unit, students learn about:

• how matter is made of tiny particles
• the differences between solids, liquids and gases
• how particle arrangement affects the properties of matter
• measuring the mass and volume of solids and liquids
• density and the relationship between mass and volume
• how liquids flow and why some liquids are more viscous than others
• evidence that gases occupy space and have mass
• how heating and cooling affect the movement of particles
• how melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation change the state of matter
• how substances remain the same during physical changes
• investigating how heat causes liquids and gases to expand
• developing and interpreting particle models to explain scientific observations
• planning investigations, collecting data and identifying patterns and trends
• recording, analysing and communicating scientific findings using tables, graphs and scientific explanations.

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment 

In this unit, students explore the structure and behaviour of matter, learning that all substances are made of atoms. They read the Periodic Table, understand how elements combine to form molecules and compounds, and investigate how material properties depend on particle composition. Students examine physical and chemical changes, comparing reversible and irreversible changes. Through hands-on activities, modelling and data analysis, they relate observable properties to particle-level processes, explore chemical reactions, and discuss matter conservation. The unit fosters scientific inquiry skills through observation, modelling, predicting, testing and explaining, linking atoms to everyday phenomena like rusting and burning, providing a strong foundation for future chemistry studies.

In this unit, students learn about:

• matter and non-matter
• atoms, elements and the Periodic Table
• physical properties including lustre, conductivity and malleability
• changes of state, including melting under different conditions
• dissolving and the formation of solutions
• chemical change and the role of atoms
• conservation of matter
• evidence of chemical reactions
• comparing physical and chemical changes

Cross-curricular with Mathematics
The unit integrates mathematics through measurement data, graphing and numerical reasoning.
• Students use maths skills such as estimating, counting, comparing quantities, measuring length, mass, temperature and recording results in tables.
• Students create bar graphs, line graphs and charts to interpret patterns and changes in scientific data.
• Students apply number skills to calculate totals, compare results and analyse changes over time.

Exit Tickets 

Summative Test – Content Assessment and Practical Assessment