Wattle Science is free for every teacher and school. 114 one-hour lessons linked to the Australian Curriculum v9, each with a lesson plan, slides with timers, a printable investigation record and exit tickets. Many need no materials beyond iPads, and the rest use cheap household items, so they work in small, regional and low-budget schools. Students can practise without signing in; teachers can make a class and see work against the curriculum.
How do we choose the right material for a job? Students classify everyday materials, then test flexibility, waterproofing and heat insulation using simple equipment. They research how materials are re-used, then apply their evidence to a design decision. Each lesson teaches one investigation skill alongside the science.
Curriculum: AC9S4U04
How can we tell whether a change can be undone? Students revisit the particle model, investigate melting and dissolving, recover dissolved salt, then look for evidence of new substances in irreversible changes. The final lesson asks students to classify the unit’s changes again and explain their decisions with evidence.
Curriculum: AC9S5U04, AC9S6U04
How do a material’s properties decide what we use it for? Three iPad lessons with no materials. Students match materials to jobs using their properties, run a fair test of wraps that keep a drink warm, then heat and cool materials to see which ones change.
Curriculum: AC9S4U04, AC9S3U04
What makes something a solid or a liquid, and how can heating or cooling change it? Three low-cost lessons. Students heat and cool water and other materials on the iPad, test kitchen and school-yard materials to see which keep their shape, then melt chocolate and make it solid again. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 use water, ice, sand, pebbles, honey and chocolate.
Curriculum: AC9S3U04
Why do solids, liquids and gases behave so differently? Students explore a particle model of ice, water and water vapour on the iPad, test samples for shape, flow and squashing with cups, water and bottles, then track a smell spreading across the room and warm air filling a balloon. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 need household items.
Curriculum: AC9S5U04
What happens to substances when they burn, and how do people use that science to stay safe? Students sort reversible and irreversible changes and learn why burning makes new substances, analyse example fire danger forecasts to see how weather affects the fire triangle, then watch teacher demonstrations that break the fire triangle with a jar and with carbon dioxide made from bicarb soda and vinegar. Lessons 1 and 2 need only iPads; lesson 3 is a teacher demonstration using a tea-light candle, jars, bicarb soda and vinegar.
Curriculum: AC9S6U04
If we can’t see air, how do we know it is made of anything at all? Students prove that “empty” cups and bags are full of air, learn how scientists over 2000 years, including a botanist who had explored Australia, built the evidence that matter is made of tiny moving particles, then read data showing that pumping air into a ball makes it heavier and harder. Lesson 1 uses cups, paper towel, a tub of water and plastic bags; lessons 2 and 3 need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils.
Curriculum: AC9S5U04
Can an invisible model of tiny particles solve real mysteries about mixing, mixtures and new substances? An extension topic for students who are ready to think further. Builds on: Solids, liquids and gases (Year 5) and Change detectives (Years 5–6). Lesson 1 uses supplied data to solve the mystery of the missing millilitres with the particle model (a preview of Year 7). Lesson 2 sorts elements, compounds and mixtures and sets a ‘be the engineer’ separation challenge (Years 7 and 8). Lesson 3 is a hands-on judging task: is each change physical or chemical, and what is the best evidence (Year 8)? Lessons 1 and 2 are iPad-only; lesson 3 uses bicarb soda, vinegar, salt and ice.
Curriculum: AC9S5U04, AC9S7U05, AC9S6U04, AC9S7U06, AC9S8U06, AC9S8U07
How do we know something is alive, and how do living things change as they grow? Students sort living, once-living and non-living things, grow seeds and record changes, sequence animal life cycles from sources, then compare plant and animal life cycles.
Curriculum: AC9S3U01
What helps living things survive where they live? Three iPad lessons with no materials. Students sort structural features from behaviours, design a creature for a habitat and test it, then predict what happens to a food web when one living thing changes.
Curriculum: AC9S5U01, AC9S4U01, AC9S6U01
Who eats whom in a habitat, and what happens to living things when they die? Students predict changes in an Australian bush food web on the iPad, build food chains from paper cards using a source about Australian animals, then search real leaf litter for the decomposers that recycle dead things. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 need paper and a bucket of leaf litter.
Curriculum: AC9S4U01
How do Australian plants and animals survive heat, drought and fire? Students investigate how desert animals and plants survive heat and dryness, discover how Australian plants survive and even need fire (and how scientists in different countries worked this out together), then model leaf features with wet paper towel to see which saves water. Lessons 1 and 2 need only iPads; lesson 3 uses paper towel, cling wrap and water.
Curriculum: AC9S5U01
How do changes in temperature, light and water quality affect the survival of corals? Students learn what corals need and why they bleach, analyse example data linking hot-water weeks to bleaching (and how teams of scientists, rangers and citizen scientists collect reef data), then test how muddy water cuts the light corals depend on. Lessons 1 and 2 need only iPads; lesson 3 uses clear cups, soil and a printed reading card.
Curriculum: AC9S6U01
How do plants and animals in dry parts of Australia fit their whole life cycle around the rain? Students compare the life cycles of a burrowing outback frog and a desert wildflower that both wait for rain, read FrogID-style data to see how frog calls follow the rain, then use life cycle knowledge to plan a frog-friendly corner of the school. All three lessons need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils.
Curriculum: AC9S3U01
Who cleans up after the animals, and what happens when there is no clean-up crew? Students find out why cow dung piled up in Australian paddocks and how CSIRO scientists and farmers used decomposers to fix it, read data from a dung beetle trial, then go on a school-yard hunt for decomposers and evidence of their work. All three lessons need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils (and the school yard for lesson 3).
Curriculum: AC9S4U01
If one living thing changes, how far can the ripples spread through a food web? An iPad-only extension topic. Builds on: Survival in habitats (Years 5–6) and Food chains and decomposers (Year 4). Lesson 1 investigates the real cane toad invasion and predicts two-step ripple effects in a food web. Lesson 2 is a data detective task: why are there so few top predators? It introduces energy flow and matter cycling. Lesson 3 has students build and test their own classification key for Australian animals. These preview Year 7 food webs (AC9S7U02) and classification (AC9S7U01).
Curriculum: AC9S6U01, AC9S7U02, AC9S5U01, AC9S7U01
Where does water go, and how does it come back as rain? Students track a disappearing puddle, catch condensation, model the water cycle in a bag, and test how soils soak up rain.
Curriculum: AC9S4U02
How does Earth’s surface change, and how does the Sun seem to move? Three iPad lessons with no materials. Students sort fast and slow changes to Earth’s surface, run fair tests on an erosion table, then use shadow data to explain day and night.
Curriculum: AC9S5U02, AC9S6U02
How are rocks, minerals and soils different, and how do we use them? Three low-cost lessons. Students explore rock and soil cards on the iPad and order the steps that make sandstone, test rocks collected from the school grounds, then run a fair test to find which soil lets water through fastest. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 use rocks, sand and soil from outside plus cups, spoons and water.
Curriculum: AC9S3U02
How do Earth’s spin, tilt and journey around the Sun give us day, night and the seasons? Lesson 1 runs entirely on the iPad: students use the Sun and shadows simulation to find patterns across a day and explain day and night. Lessons 2 and 3 use a torch, an orange or ball and a skewer to model Earth’s rotation, then its tilt and revolution, to explain seasons and why day length changes more in Hobart than in Darwin.
Curriculum: AC9S6U02
Why does rain fall when and where it does, and how do people keep track of it? Students read Bureau of Meteorology-style rainfall data for three Australian cities, learn how the Bininj/Mungguy people of Kakadu read six seasons from weather, plants and animals, then build rain gauges and test whether a wide container catches deeper rain than a narrow one. Lessons 1 and 2 need only iPads; lesson 3 uses plastic bottles, tubs, rulers and a watering can.
Curriculum: AC9S4U02
How do water, wind and time shape the land, and what can people do about it? Students trace how Uluru and the Twelve Apostles formed through weathering, erosion and deposition, analyse example beach-width data from before and after a big storm and weigh up how communities protect beaches, then test whether a cover of leaves protects soil from rain. Lessons 1 and 2 need only iPads; lesson 3 uses soil, trays, cups and leaves.
Curriculum: AC9S5U02
Is all soil the same, and how do people use different soils? Students feel, roll and compare soils from their own school yard, read data from farmers who buried cotton underwear to find out how alive their soil is, then use what they know to choose the best soil for a vegie patch, a farm dam and a mud brick. Lesson 1 uses only school-yard soil, water and paper; lessons 2 and 3 need nothing but a screen or printout, paper and pencils.
Curriculum: AC9S3U02
How do the movements of Earth, the Sun and the Moon explain moon phases, eclipses and tides? An extension topic. Builds on: Earth and the Sun (Year 6). Lesson 1 uses a torch and a ball on a stick to model why the Moon’s shape changes. Lesson 2 is a data mystery about real eclipses seen from Australia: why don’t we get an eclipse every month? Lesson 3 is a tide-table puzzle that links the Moon’s movement to the timing and height of tides. Lessons 2 and 3 are iPad-only. Previews Year 7 AC9S7U03.
Curriculum: AC9S6U02, AC9S7U03
How can a rock’s appearance tell the story of how it formed, and how long that took? An extension topic. Builds on: Changing Earth and sky (Years 5–6), where students studied weathering, erosion and deposition. Lesson 1 is a ‘rock CSI’ task: use clues such as crystals, layers and fossils to work out how eight rocks formed. Lesson 2 builds a timeline to grasp how slow and how fast Earth processes are. Lesson 3 models the whole rock cycle with crayon shavings. Lessons 1 and 2 are iPad-only. Previews Year 8 AC9S8U04.
Curriculum: AC9S5U02, AC9S8U04
How do pushes and pulls change the way things move? Students identify pushes and pulls, run fair tests with ramps and surfaces, and investigate magnets as a force that acts without touching.
Curriculum: AC9S4U03
How do forces change the way things move? Three iPad lessons with no materials. Students sort contact and non-contact forces and test magnets, test whether heavier things fall faster, then run fair tests on a ramp.
Curriculum: AC9S4U03
Where does heat come from, and where does it go? Three low-cost lessons. Students watch a warm drink cool on the iPad and read its temperatures, race ice cubes to find where heat comes from, then feel heat moving between warm and cold water and spoons. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 use ice, cups, warm tap water and spoons.
Curriculum: AC9S3U03
How does light travel from a source to our eyes, and what happens when it hits things? Students measure shadows in an iPad simulation, test whether light travels in straight lines and which materials let it through using a torch and cardboard, then bounce, absorb and bend light with a safety mirror, paper and a cup of water. Lesson 1 needs only iPads; lessons 2 and 3 need torches and household items.
Curriculum: AC9S5U03
How does a circuit move energy from a battery to make light, heat, sound or movement? Lesson 1 runs entirely on the iPad: students light a bulb on screen and test which materials conduct. Lessons 2 and 3 use low-cost, low-voltage kits (AA cells, globes or LEDs, wires or foil, paper clips and split pins) to build circuits with switches, test classroom objects, and track how energy is transformed. Only 1.5 V cells are used, never mains power.
Curriculum: AC9S6U03
Why do some playground surfaces get so hot, and how can we make them cooler? Students read example temperature data from a hot playground, test which coloured surface warms an ice cube fastest in the sun, then use what they learned to design a cooler corner of the school. Lessons 1 and 3 need only iPads; lesson 2 uses ice cubes, black and white paper and foil.
Curriculum: AC9S3U03
How does light travel, and how can people use that knowledge to protect baby turtles? Students discover how people worked out over a thousand years how we see, investigate why turtle hatchlings at Mon Repos in Queensland crawl the wrong way towards town lights and how the community responded, then design and test a shielded light that lights a path but can’t be seen from a turtle’s eye level. Lessons 1 and 2 need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils; lesson 3 uses a phone torch or torch, paper, cups and foil.
Curriculum: AC9S5U03
How does energy from the Sun end up lighting a room or pumping water on an outback station? Students trace energy through a solar-powered system on a remote cattle station, learn how a team at the University of New South Wales built on earlier work to invent the solar cell now used in most of the world’s solar panels, then audit the energy transformations in their own school and recommend changes. All three lessons need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils.
Curriculum: AC9S6U03
Where does energy come from, where does it go, and why does it never get used up? An extension topic. Builds on: Electric circuits (Year 6), where students traced energy transformations in a circuit. Lesson 1 builds energy transfer chains from the Sun to everyday things and sorts energy into kinetic and potential. Lesson 2 runs an ‘energy audit’ on the Ramp racer simulation. Lesson 3 is a hands-on bouncing ball challenge. Lessons 1 and 2 are iPad-only; lesson 3 uses balls, rulers and tape. Previews Year 8 AC9S8U05.
Curriculum: AC9S6U03, AC9S8U05
How do scientists turn a hunch into a hypothesis, find a rule in data, and decide whether a claim can be trusted? An iPad-only extension topic on scientific thinking. Builds on: Light and shadows (Year 5) and its Shadow maker investigation. Lesson 1 turns a hunch about shadow size into a testable hypothesis and finds a mathematical rule. Lesson 2 takes Galileo’s challenge about falling objects and explains it with balanced and unbalanced forces (a preview of Year 7 AC9S7U04). Lesson 3 is a ‘fix the flawed study’ task where students evaluate real-world-style claims. Previews Year 7 inquiry codes AC9S7I01, AC9S7I05 and AC9S7I06.
Curriculum: AC9S5U03, AC9S7U04
Curriculum codes were checked against secondary sources; please confirm them on the ACARA website before reporting.