
Properties of Materials
Levels 3 and 4

NZC Achievement Objectives

Te Mātauranga o Aotearoa
Properties and Changes of Matter: Classify materials by observing and measuring their properties such as electrical or thermal conductivity or acidity.
Ngā Āhuatanga me ngā Panoni Matū: Ka whakarōpū i ētahi matū mā te mātakitaki me te ine i ngā āhuatanga ōkiko, kawekawe hoki, pēnei i te kawe hiko, te kawe pōkākā, me te waikawatanga.

Learning Intentions

Integration Ideas
Learning Intentions are from the Ministry of Education
Integration ideas are from the Ministry of Education
Level 3
Investigating and describing ways of grouping unfamiliar materials, using observable physical properties.
Levels 3 and 4
Be able to investigate and group different types of coffee in terms of their degree of solubility in water.
Be able to investigate and group different types of materials in terms of their properties such as degree of solubility, melting point, or acidity.
Level 4
Investigating and grouping common materials, using physical and chemical properties.
Coming Soon!

Related Topics
Resources

Acids and bases are important chemistry concepts that kids can enjoying learning about as they make their own sherbet to take home.
Level
1-4
Type
Activity
Acids & Bases
Science Kids
Acids and bases are important chemistry concepts that kids can enjoying learning about as they make their own sherbet to take home.

Build up your science with the “Architecture” show.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNgqqRgR0w
Level
1-4
Type
Video
Architecture
Bill Nye The Science Guy
Build up your science with the “Architecture” show.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNgqqRgR0w

What’s the matter? Everything is the matter, everything is made of matter, and Bill Nye will show you how.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sIUUg0s8GM
Level
1-4
Type
Video
Atoms and Molecules
Bill Nye The Science Guy
What’s the matter? Everything is the matter, everything is made of matter, and Bill Nye will show you how.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sIUUg0s8GM

Static electricity can do some amazing things, find out how you can use it to bend a stream of water using just your hair and a comb.
Level
1-4
Type
Experiment
Bending Water
Science Kids
Static electricity can do some amazing things, find out how you can use it to bend a stream of water using just your hair and a comb.

Bicycles is the topic for this book because bikes are familiar to children from most cultures and also because they allow easy investigation into the concepts of levers, friction, and motion.
Level
3-4
Type
Activity Book
Bikes: Levers, Friction, and Motion
Ministry of Education NZ
Bicycles is the topic for this book because bikes are familiar to children from most cultures and also because they allow easy investigation into the concepts of levers, friction, and motion.

Bridges are so useful. People have been making them for thousands of years. It would be really good to have a bridge so I can keep my clean floor nice and clean :D But how do you make a really strong bridge?
Level
1-2
Type
Video
Bridges: How do you build a strong bridge?
Suzy's World
Bridges are so useful. People have been making them for thousands of years. It would be really good to have a bridge so I can keep my clean floor nice and clean :D But how do you make a really strong bridge?

Joe introduces you to a special word that will help you to build an awesome shelter to survive the night, and hopefully the rain! He has a little help from his friends "Survival Man" and Laura. These are great skills for taking into the outdoors on your next adventure.
Level
1-4
Type
Video
Build a Shelter
Whenua Iti Outdoors
Joe introduces you to a special word that will help you to build an awesome shelter to survive the night, and hopefully the rain! He has a little help from his friends "Survival Man" and Laura. These are great skills for taking into the outdoors on your next adventure.

Ahoy there, matey. Come aboard Captain Nye’s Buoyant Barge of Science. There’s no swabbing the decks or battening down the hatches just the science of floating.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HZBusjP0uw
Level
1-4
Type
Video
Buoyancy
Bill Nye The Science Guy
Ahoy there, matey. Come aboard Captain Nye’s Buoyant Barge of Science. There’s no swabbing the decks or battening down the hatches just the science of floating.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HZBusjP0uw

What a mess! Someone’s left out frozen milk, smeared melted chocolate around, spilt white crystals everywhere and what’s that smell? Investigate the elements of the mess scene and find out exactly what’s happening!
Level
3
Type
Unit
Change detectives
Primary Connections
What a mess! Someone’s left out frozen milk, smeared melted chocolate around, spilt white crystals everywhere and what’s that smell? Investigate the elements of the mess scene and find out exactly what’s happening!

What effect does salt have on the temperature of ice? This lesson plan and activity will let students experiment for themselves. What outcomes and reasoning will they come up with?
Level
1-4
Type
Activity
Colder Than Ice
Science Kids
What effect does salt have on the temperature of ice? This lesson plan and activity will let students experiment for themselves. What outcomes and reasoning will they come up with?

Explore the topic of space in this fun, hands-on STEM lesson. Available free for teachers, it includes curriculum-matched teaching notes.
Level
1-4
Type
Video
Comet Catcher
Nanogirl
Explore the topic of space in this fun, hands-on STEM lesson. Available free for teachers, it includes curriculum-matched teaching notes.

What doesn’t breathe but can’t live without air, doesn’t drink but needs water near, never sleeps and won’t rest much, is stronger than steel, but crumbles at a touch?
Level
3
Type
Book
Connected 2013 Level 3: ‘Fast Rust’
Ministry of Education NZ
What doesn’t breathe but can’t live without air, doesn’t drink but needs water near, never sleeps and won’t rest much, is stronger than steel, but crumbles at a touch?

A class arrives at school to find their room transformed into a laboratory and their teacher transformed into an animal dental hygiene scientist. The zoo asks them to invent a recipe for elephant toothpaste.
Level
3
Type
Book
Connected 2014 Level 3: ‘Elephant Toothpaste’
Ministry of Education NZ
A class arrives at school to find their room transformed into a laboratory and their teacher transformed into an animal dental hygiene scientist. The zoo asks them to invent a recipe for elephant toothpaste.

Te Papa conservator Rangi Te Kanawa uses her knowledge of traditional dyeing practices, science, and scientific experimentation to preserve fibres in textiles that have been dyed using iron-tannate black dyes.
Level
4
Type
Book
Connected 2014 Level 4: ‘Black is Back’
Ministry of Education NZ
Te Papa conservator Rangi Te Kanawa uses her knowledge of traditional dyeing practices, science, and scientific experimentation to preserve fibres in textiles that have been dyed using iron-tannate black dyes.

Shoes made from chewing gum? Jackets made from drink bottles? Go beyond the recycling bins and find out how everyday objects and materials can be broken down and made into something new.
Level
4
Type
Book
Connected 2017 Level 4: ‘Turning Old into New’
Ministry of Education NZ
Shoes made from chewing gum? Jackets made from drink bottles? Go beyond the recycling bins and find out how everyday objects and materials can be broken down and made into something new.

Students work in small groups to research energy-efficient house design and passive solar energy. They share their research findings, develop a design for an energy-efficient house and construct a model energy-efficient house from materials supplied, then explain their model to the class.
Level
3-4
Type
Lesson Plan
Design an Energy-Efficient House
Genesis School-Gen
Students work in small groups to research energy-efficient house design and passive solar energy. They share their research findings, develop a design for an energy-efficient house and construct a model energy-efficient house from materials supplied, then explain their model to the class.

Design and build something that can safely protect an egg from smashing all over the ground with this fun egg drop project for kids.
Level
1-4
Type
Experiment
Egg Drop
Science Kids
Design and build something that can safely protect an egg from smashing all over the ground with this fun egg drop project for kids.

Investigate energy, how it is created and how it is transferred and transformed and foil the evil plans of Professor Pitch Black and her sidekick Short Circuit!
Level
3
Type
Unit
Essential Energy
Primary Connections
Investigate energy, how it is created and how it is transferred and transformed and foil the evil plans of Professor Pitch Black and her sidekick Short Circuit!

This book provides rich opportunities for children to carry out scientific investigations into fabrics in order to clarify and expand their conceptions about them. The topic of fabrics integrates with the technology and social studies curricula.
Level
1-4
Type
Activity Book
Fabrics: Origins, Properties, and Uses
Ministry of Education NZ
This book provides rich opportunities for children to carry out scientific investigations into fabrics in order to clarify and expand their conceptions about them. The topic of fabrics integrates with the technology and social studies curricula.

The complexity of this investigation encourages students to begin to think critically about the design and results of the investigation.
Level
4-5
Type
Activity
Factors affecting ball bounce
Ministry of Education NZ
The complexity of this investigation encourages students to begin to think critically about the design and results of the investigation.