The ‘Stand on the Line’ activity can be used as a barometer to test students’ prior knowledge - the focus of this lesson is the the human impact on ecosystems. Read a set of statements to students then use the additional notes provided to engage students in further conversation around each point.

In this activity, students work in pairs to research the important issue of sustainable use of water resources. Students will discover the most appropriate way to find credible information about this issue on the internet. Students are given time to find internet material that they evaluate according to a set of criteria. Students identify websites that are credible, useful, and informative.

Students complete a classroom audit and explain how appliances are used in their homes and classroom each day. They will represent data with objects and drawings where one object or drawing represents one data value. Students will understand how people use science in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things. Students wil be able to classify a range of everyday appliances in terms of their energy usage and record and tally items around the classroom and at home.

This tool will help you to structure student research. It will assist them to organise ideas and help them to form opinions about new topics.

Students collect data completing a spot audit on all the lights that are on in their classroom and the school. Through this activity students will understand some of the ways we can save energy.

In this experiment, students make a rocket using a film canister, an antacid tablet and water. They then explore the variables of the experiment, changing the quantity of each material and observing the impact on the results. Finally, they explore the scientific occurrence and consider whether the reaction is reversible.

Students draw conclusions about different energy futures. Students explore a range of energy types that could be used as environmentally friendly alternatives to coal.

Students explore why trees are important, what the parts of a tree are called and why we need trees. Students begin by observing trees in nature, and then draw upon inspiration from the story The Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert to make their own leaf men with fallen leaves. These will be used to create a display to teach other students about the importance of trees. This lesson is designed to be taught outside. By spending time outdoors and connecting to nature, students are more likely to care for and conserve nature as adults.

In this lesson, students redesign an area of their school to make it as energy efficient as possible. They will identify energy users in the classroom then brainstorming design solutions to remove or reduce reliance on these items. The class then selects and area of the school to assess and redesign for improved energy efficiency. The lesson concludes with students presenting their plan as a model or chart. By completing the activities in this lesson, students will understand how science and technology contribute to finding solutions to a range of contemporary issues; these solutions may impact on other areas of society and involve ethical considerations. They will use comprehension strategies to interpret, analyse and synthesise ideas and information, critiquing ideas and issues from a variety of textual sources. Students will be able to identify energy users in and around their school, justify design features choices to increase energy efficiency and redesign an area of the school to be more energy efficient. Students will present their designs using a map, model, blue-print, drawing or digital representation/model.

In this lesson, students design a bedroom that has a range of creative energy saving features. Students will imagine what their ultimate bedroom of the future might look like then work on a design for this bedroom with modifications that make it as low energy as possible. Your class will explore needs or opportunities for designing, and the technologies needed to realise designed solutions. Students will generate, develop and record design ideas through describing, drawing and modelling. They will be able to identify energy inefficiencies in an everyday setting, then design options for reduction of energy use at home. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to communicate their design ideas with their peers and give constructive feedback.

This is a lesson plan with an associated Student Worksheet. In this lesson, students use their observation skills to explore our environment. They will explore some of the amazing colours, shapes, patterns and textures that can be found in nature. The class will walk around the school or a nearby park, spot as many colours as they can, observe the different shapes and patterns found along the walk and feel the different textures of a variety of objects. Students will build on their skills to recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious features. They will use a range of methods to sort information, including drawings, and learn about how to behave in a safe manner while outdoors.

In this lesson, students will locate, observe and record their observations of insects or minibeasts in a school ground or garden environment. They will represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways such as oral and written language, drawing and role play. Students will observe how living things have a variety of external features. They'll be able to hypothesise on the types of minibeasts in their local area, identify the features of minibeasts in their local area and be able to draw a diagram to document the features of the minibeasts in their local area.

Students will think about what they encounter and consume in their day-to-day lives, and think about those things in terms of whether they fulfill a ‘need’ or a ‘want’. Students create a list of consumables and categorise them as needs or wants, then make a list of their own needs and wants.

Through a classroom demonstration, students will calculate the percentage of fresh water available for human use and explain why water is a limited resource. Students will choose appropriate units of measurement for  volume. With guidance, students will pose questions to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation, and predict what the findings of an investigation might be. Students connect volume and capacity and their units of measurement. Students will be able to physically represent percentages using 100 pieces of paper and articulate how smaller volumes of water represent the Earth’s total water content.

Students use their observation skills and directed questioning to answer questions about birds and their location and motion. Students will develop the scientific skill of comparing observations with those of others and will be able to make observations about birds in their natural environment.

In this lesson, students role-play animals of the ocean and are asked to think about how these creatures interact with each other, and how these interactions are important to the life and health of the ocean. Students will understand that living things live in different places where their needs are met and will use a range of methods to sort information, including drawings and tables. Students will be able to name animals that live in the ocean and their behaviours and represent the behaviours of ocean animals through movement.

In this lesson students find out which appliances in their classroom use energy and work together to create agreements for the classroom about switching off and adjusting these appliances. The lesson ends with students making informative stickers for these appliances. Students will use comprehension strategies to build literal meaning about key ideas and information in texts. They’ll be able to identify way to reduce energy use of items in class, clearly express instructions about how to use an appliance and work in groups to plan a text.

Students use examples from the ocean to draw food chains showing the relationships between organisms. They then apply their learning to finding food chains around them. They use their food chains to suggest the outcomes when one of the animals is removed from the chain. They will group living things on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things. Students will represent and communicate ideas and findings in a variety of ways such as diagrams, physical representations and simple reports. They will understand that living things, including plants and animals, depend on each other and the environment to survive. Students will be able to research the diets of a range of living things, create a simple food chain based on their research and communicate their finding to the peers.

By the end of this activity students will be able to explain how water bottles and other drink containers should be used so that germs aren’t spread. Students will engage in conversations and discussions, using active listening behaviours, showing interest, and contributing ideas, information and questions. They will respond to and pose questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and events Students can state why it is important to stay have a clean, reusable water bottle, and list ways to keep their reusable water bottle clean and healthy

This lesson is based on the game 'Red Light, Green Light’, with a twist. The player nominated as ‘it’ is a frog and the rest of the class are insects, trying to cross the pond without being eaten. Students will understand that living things live in different places where their needs are met, will be able to articulate how the game illustrates the relationship between a frog and insects and learn to follow the rules of a simple game.