Year 4 - Science

Components

5 components

C1 Food Chains: Producers, Consumers and Decomposers Biological sciences. The roles of producers, consumers and decomposers in an ecosystem and how their feeding relationships can be represented by food chains and food webs. Students classify living things by their role, build and interpret food chains, extend these into food webs, and investigate the vital role of decomposers in returning energy and nutrients to the system. Anchored in Australian ecosystems and connected to sustainability and to First Peoples' knowledge of Country. Draws on the Primary Connections 'Sustain the Chain' approach.
C2 Materials and Their Properties Chemical sciences. How processed materials (fibres, metals, glass, plastics) are made from raw materials (wool, ores, sand, oil), and how the physical properties of a material — strength, flexibility, absorbency, waterproofing, transparency, hardness — influence what it is used for. Students test and compare material properties through fair-test investigations, match materials to purposes, and consider the environmental and ethical dimensions of material use, waste and recycling. Culminates in a design task that justifies material choices by their properties.
C3 Changing Earth's Surface: Weathering and Erosion Earth and space sciences. How weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition cause slow or rapid change to Earth's surface. Students distinguish mechanical, chemical and biological weathering; model these processes through hands-on investigations (freeze–thaw, acid on limestone, river rocks); explore erosion, transportation and deposition; and apply their knowledge to real Western Australian contexts such as Uluṟu, mining waste-rock stockpiles and topsoil loss on farms. Connected to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (including The Rainbow Serpent) and to HASS geography.
C4 Forces: Contact and Non-Contact Physical sciences. Forces exerted by one object on another through direct contact, such as friction, and from a distance, such as magnetism and gravity. Students explore balanced and unbalanced forces and represent them with labelled arrows; investigate friction on different surfaces through fair tests; explore magnetic attraction, repulsion and materials; and observe gravity as a non-contact force. They apply force ideas to everyday and design contexts (grip, brakes, ramps, magnets in devices). Anchored by a friction fair-test investigation.
C5 Working Scientifically: Science Inquiry Skills Science inquiry skills (cross-cutting — taught and assessed through the four content components, not in isolation). Posing questions that include a variable to be changed and measured; making predictions from observations and science knowledge; planning and conducting investigations with elements of fair tests and consideration of material and equipment risks; making and recording observations using formal measurements and familiar scaled instruments; organising and representing data in tables and column graphs to identify patterns; comparing findings with others and with predictions; evaluating fairness; communicating ideas using scientific vocabulary; and using science knowledge to propose explanations and solutions. Uses a recurring fair-test investigation template as the scaffold across the year.