Australia · ACARA Content Descriptions
Year 5 Science
This course engages Year 5 students in deep inquiry across biological, physical, and earth sciences. Students investigate how living things adapt to survive, how light behaves in our world, and how the Earth changes over time through hands-on experimentation and scientific observation.
Survival in the Wild
Students investigate how structural features and behavioral adaptations allow living things to survive in specific environments.
Exploring how physical body parts like beaks, fur, and leaves help organisms thrive in their habitats.
Analyzing how animals act and react to environmental changes to ensure their continued survival.
Case studies of organisms that survive in the harshest conditions on Earth.
Illuminating the World
An exploration of light sources, how light travels, and how it interacts with different objects to create shadows and reflections.
Identifying light sources and understanding that light travels in straight lines until it hits an object.
Investigating how shadows are formed and how materials can be classified by their interaction with light.
Examining how light bends when moving through different mediums and how white light is composed of colors.
Earth's Changing Surface
Students investigate the geological processes and human activities that shape and change the Earth's surface over time.
Identifying the forces of nature that break down rocks and move sediment across the landscape.
Exploring rapid changes to the Earth's surface caused by events like earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides.
Assessing how human activities such as mining, farming, and urban development change the Earth's surface.
Matter and Mixtures
An introduction to the properties of matter and how different substances can be combined and separated.
Observing the properties of solids, liquids, and gases and how they change with temperature.
Investigating what happens when different materials are mixed together.
Applying scientific methods to separate mixtures back into their original components.
The Solar System
Investigating the planets in our solar system and the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun.
Comparing the characteristics of the planets in our solar system, including size, composition, and distance from the sun.
Understanding how the movement of Earth and the Moon creates day, night, and the phases of the moon.
Exploring how technology allows us to learn about space and the challenges of human space travel.
Scientific Inquiry in Action
A capstone unit where students design and conduct their own scientific investigations based on their interests.
Learning how to identify variables and ensure that scientific experiments produce reliable results.
Collecting, representing, and interpreting data to draw evidence-based conclusions.
Presenting scientific findings to an audience using appropriate terminology and formats.