Gears and Compound Machines

Ask relevant scientific questions, set up simple practical enquiries, and understand how to conduct a fair test.

Make accurate measurements using standard units, record observations in structured tables, and draw evidence-based conclusions.

Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways and use classification keys to identify organisms.

Understand that environments can change naturally and through human activity, posing dangers to living things.

Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans.

Identify the types and functions of human teeth, investigate dental care, and construct food chains with producers, predators, and prey.

Compare and group materials together according to whether they are solids, liquids, or gases.

Observe that some materials change state when heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius.

Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Identify how sounds are made by vibrating objects, and find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object producing it.

Recognise that sounds travel through mediums to the ear, explore the relationship between volume and vibration strength, and find patterns as distance increases.

Identify common appliances that run on electricity, construct simple series electrical circuits, and diagnose complete and broken circuits.

Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit, and associate conductors and insulators with good electrical flow or safety.

Understand how levers and pulley systems act as force multipliers to change the direction and size of forces, making heavy loads easier to lift.

Explore how interlocking gears transfer motion, adjust speed and turning force, and combine into compound machines.

Explore how contact and non-contact forces act upon objects, including friction, air resistance, water resistance, and gravity.

Compare and group different rocks based on appearance and physical properties, explain how fossils are formed, and explore soil composition.