Teaching Team
Kimalee Fernandes
Ritu Marwah
Science involves students developing an understanding of the four areas of inquiry: Earth & Space, Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences. In these four areas students will be encouraged to explore their curiosity, along with their questioning and predicting skills. Students’ questions and predictions will lead to further exploration, team research and experiments and finally onto collaborating and drawing of conclusions. Development of these critical thinking skills will be combined with having a respectful understanding of other people, cultures and our environment.
Throughout the year all students will work through a wide range of activities and experiments with the opportunity to use a variety of materials. Viewing news articles, movies, animations, models, artefacts and demonstrations along with participating in hands-on experiments, art and craft projects, inventing, teamwork and problem solving are just some of those activities.
Each student will be encouraged to see the relationship between effort and achievement as they complete their Science projects and meet goals in their Science learning. Science work will be sent home throughout the year, along with a workbook that will go home at the end of the school year. Science outcomes will be reported on throughout the year.
Student Science works will be regularly published in the school newsletter throughout the year, providing a sample of the experiments, activities and work completed by students at NMPS.
Prep – On the Move:
For Term 3, Preps will be exploring the Physical Sciences. They will be focussing on the topic ‘On the Move’. Students will be investigating and comparing movement in objects based on their size, shape and material. Attention to the 3D shapes cubes, cones, spheres and cylinders will be given. Students will be observing movement in non-living things on air, water and land and discussing differences and similarities. Inventions in transport over time will be explored. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 1 – Light and Sound:
For Term 3, Year 1s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be investigating the topic ‘Light and Sound.’ For the first few weeks of the term, they will be focusing on the senses of the human body and vocabulary related to the light. They will also be creating a diorama to practically apply the principles of light. In the latter part of the term, students will engage with sound and create simple sound instruments to examine the characteristics of pitch, loudness, and the actions such as shaking and scraping that create sound. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 2 – Push and Pull:
For Term 3, Grade 2s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be investigating the topic ‘Push and Pull’, focussing on different types of forces on objects including contact and non-contact forces like magnets. They will be engaging in experiments and building ramps to test different attributes like speed, angles, and gravity. They will also be investigating differences in forces acting on movement occurring in air, water and on land. Students will be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 3 – Motion and Magnetism:
For Term 3, Grade 3s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be investigating the topic ‘Motion and Magnetism’, focussing on learning the vocabulary and differentiating between types of motion using real-life examples. Students will experiment with concepts of forces and energy conversion connected to motion, and using magnets to gain an understanding about electromagnetism. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting fun activities and experiments, like ‘The Egg Drop Challenge’, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 4 – Temperature:
For Term 3, Year 4s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be focussing on ‘Temperature’, gaining an understanding of the vocabulary related to temperature that causes changes in the states of matter. They will be observing the flow of a liquid at different temperatures and measuring it using thermometers. They will also be investigating absorption of light by different colours which causes the temperature to differ. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 5 – Light- Reflection, Refraction, Absorption:
For Term 3, Year 5s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be investigating the topic ‘Light – Reflection, Refraction and Absorption’, gaining an understanding of the vocabulary and linking the topic to specific examples in nature and their daily life. They will be classifying objects based on the three principles of reflection, refraction, and absorption. They will also be engaging in experiments to understand the concept such as shadows, how we see colour, lenses and how they correct sight, etc. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting whilst conducting these experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
Grade 6 – Electric:
For Term 3, Year 6s will be exploring the Physical Sciences. Students will be focussing on the topic of ‘Electric!’ investigating the difference between open and closed electric circuits. They will also gain an understanding of the purpose and construction of batteries. Students will be engaging in understanding the process of generation of electricity using solar, hydro and wind energy. Students will also be building inquiry skills, including questioning, predicting, conducting experiments and activities, as well as collaborating and recording information in a hands-on, fun, and visual way.
