Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools) - Grade Five

Learning Area: Natural Sciences

Learning Outcome 1:  Scientific Investigations

The learner will be able to act confidently on curiosity about natural phenomena, and to investigate relationships and solve problems in scientific, technological and environmental contexts.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Plans investigations: Lists, with support, what is known about familiar situations and materials, and suggests questions for investigation.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • contributes to a class list of interesting aspects of the situation;
  • helps build a list of questions which self or classmates consider important;
  • responds to teacher’s suggestions of ‘what would happen if...?’.

• Conducts investigations and collects data: Carries out instructions and procedures involving a small number of steps.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • follows a simple worksheet to set up equipment and obtain observations;
  • records observations by drawing and labelling;
  • perseveres until the phenomenon happens or can be observed over a longer period of time (e.g.plants grow toward light from a mirror).

• Evaluates data and communicates findings: Reports on the group’s procedure and the results obtained.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • offers observation data which have a connection to the focus question;
  • describes before-and-after situations when they varied some factor in the situation.

Learning Outcome 2:  Constructing Science Knowledge

The learner will know and be able to interpret and apply scientific, technological and environmental knowledge.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Recalls meaningful information: At the minimum, uses own most fluent language to name and describe features and properties of objects, materials and organisms.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • identifies external parts of animals (e.g.noses, ears, tails, fur, gills, fins, scales, feathers) in own most fluent language;
  • appropriately describes observable features of objects in the environment, animals, plants or features in the sky, in own most fluent language;
  • matches moving mechanical systems to the definition of their motions (e.g.oscillation, rotation, movement in straight lines).

• Categorises information: Creates own categories of objects and organisms, and explains own rule for categorising.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • explains the grouping of a set of organisms with sentences such as: ‘All these animals can get into trees, and these ones can’t.’

Learning Outcome 3:  Science, Society and the Environment

The learner will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between science and technology, society and the environment.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Understands science and technology in the context of history and indigenous knowledge: Identifies ways in which products and technologies have been adapted from other times and cultures.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • describes traditional shelters and relates some of their features to modern dwellings;
  • listens and responds to stories about people who invented known devices (e.g. the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, who also taught deaf people to speak).

• Understands the impact of science and technology: Identifies the positive and negative effects of scientific developments or technological products on the quality of people’s lives and/or the environment.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • expresses possible advantages and disadvantages of living in a modern city, and explains why some people might prefer to live in traditional dwellings in a rural area;
  • compares results of an audit of water use in own home with results of other learners, noting differences in amounts used and for what purposes, as well as costs of getting the water.

• Recognises bias in science and technology: Describes the impact that lack of access to technological products and services has on people.
• Achievement is evident when the learner, for example,
  • explains how poor or unemployed people might end up homeless through changes in technology.