Any day outdoors
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- represent their current understanding of the characteristics of weather and seasons.
- identify some of the characteristics of weather.
- recount their personal experiences of weather and how it changes over time.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- record the characteristics of weather as drawings.
- participate in and contribute to discussions, sharing information, experiences and opinions.
- record ideas in a science journal.
In the Launch phase, assessment is diagnostic.
Take note of:
- How do students describe clouds and rain?
- For example, are clouds described as bursting to produce rain?
- How do students describe wind?
- Are moving trees the cause of wind?
- Are changes in the weather (daily or seasonally) noticed?
- Do students describe how the weather can affect their actions?
- Have students noticed how animals or plants are affected by the weather?
- What vocabulary are students using?
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Material to create a word wall
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Optional: Frames cut from sturdy materials such as ice-cream container lids, cardboard etc.
Lesson
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
Students arrive in the classroom with a variety of scientific experiences. This routine provides an opportunity to plan for a common shared experience for all students. The Experience may involve games, role-play, local excursions or yarning with people in the local community. This routine can involve a chance to Empathise with the people who experience the problems science seeks to solve.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider what experiences will be relevant to your students. Is there a location for an excursion, or people to talk to as part of an incursion? Are there local people in the community who might be able to talk about what they are doing? How could you set up your classroom to broaden the students’ thinking about the core science ideas? How could you provide a common experience that will provide a talking point throughout the sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkObservation walk
Ask students what they think it means (in terms of the weather) if someone says it is a ‘nice day’. Ask if they think today is a 'nice day', and if not, how they would describe it.
Discuss if frogs/cats/dogs/fish like the same types of days as humans. Suggest that the class could go for an observational walk outside to determine if it is a ‘nice day’ for people or frogs/cats/dogs/fish.
Discuss what ‘observation’ means and how it’s done. Refer to the five key senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste). Brainstorm what students might expect to see and what they might look for, drawing out any comments related to weather.
Adapting to your context
Teachers are encouraged to select a Launch context that is suitable to the needs of their students.
Teachers are encouraged to select a Launch context that is suitable to the needs of their students and that will allow students to make their learning visible during the Action phase. This may include an already planned excursion, sports day or lunchtime picnic.
When discussing the environment in line with traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ context of observation, it is important to identify and establish the local custodians of the land in which you are working. In doing so you will gain an understanding of seasonal changes that affected everyday life such as when to harvest, when to manufacture shelter and clothing to name a few.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the First Peoples of Australia. When wanting to work with local traditional custodians, Elders and/or community members it is important to do some learning first.
Where possible, learn about the country you are on, the language/s spoken, the people/s of the area, and as much as you can about their culture, social structure (kinship), spiritual traditions, philosophies, and history. Learn from reputable sources of information such as materials produced locally by or with the traditional custodians or visit local community centres or Land Councils.
Ask your school-based Indigenous education officer if you have one, existing staff members, family members of your students and enquire at the local land council or with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education groups to find out whether there are protocols for working with community members. Build strong relationships in these ways using respectful communication, acknowledging that relationships may take time to develop.
Ensure you are creating respectful and meaningful experiences for both students and community members with deep regard for the ways knowledge can be shared. Ask questions if you are unsure about something and build trust. Be open to new ways.
Value the time, knowledge, culture, intellectual property, and people of the community.
Teachers are encouraged to select a Launch context that is suitable to the needs of their students and that will allow students to make their learning visible during the Action phase. This may include an already planned excursion, sports day or lunchtime picnic.
When discussing the environment in line with traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ context of observation, it is important to identify and establish the local custodians of the land in which you are working. In doing so you will gain an understanding of seasonal changes that affected everyday life such as when to harvest, when to manufacture shelter and clothing to name a few.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the First Peoples of Australia. When wanting to work with local traditional custodians, Elders and/or community members it is important to do some learning first.
Where possible, learn about the country you are on, the language/s spoken, the people/s of the area, and as much as you can about their culture, social structure (kinship), spiritual traditions, philosophies, and history. Learn from reputable sources of information such as materials produced locally by or with the traditional custodians or visit local community centres or Land Councils.
Ask your school-based Indigenous education officer if you have one, existing staff members, family members of your students and enquire at the local land council or with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education groups to find out whether there are protocols for working with community members. Build strong relationships in these ways using respectful communication, acknowledging that relationships may take time to develop.
Ensure you are creating respectful and meaningful experiences for both students and community members with deep regard for the ways knowledge can be shared. Ask questions if you are unsure about something and build trust. Be open to new ways.
Value the time, knowledge, culture, intellectual property, and people of the community.
Core concepts and key ideas
When planning for teaching in your classroom, it can be useful to see where a sequence fits into the larger picture of science.
When planning for teaching in your classroom, it can be useful to see where a sequence fits into the larger picture of science. This unit is anchored to the core concepts for Earth and space sciences.
- The Earth system comprises dynamic and interdependent systems.
- Interactions between these systems cause continuous change over a range of scales.
- All living things are connected through Earth’s systems and dependent on the sustainability of the Earth system.
In Year 1, this involves students identifying daily and seasonal changes and describing ways these changes affect their everyday life.
These core concepts are linked to the key science ideas:
- Changes in objects and phenomena can be observed and described. (Stability and change)
- Objects and phenomena may change slowly or rapidly and some things appear to stay the same. (Stability and change)
- Some patterns can only be observed at certain time and spatial scales. (Patterns, order, and organisation)
When your students next progress through this core concept, they will observe and compare the properties of soil, rocks and minerals and investigate why they are important (Year 3).
When planning for teaching in your classroom, it can be useful to see where a sequence fits into the larger picture of science. This unit is anchored to the core concepts for Earth and space sciences.
- The Earth system comprises dynamic and interdependent systems.
- Interactions between these systems cause continuous change over a range of scales.
- All living things are connected through Earth’s systems and dependent on the sustainability of the Earth system.
In Year 1, this involves students identifying daily and seasonal changes and describing ways these changes affect their everyday life.
These core concepts are linked to the key science ideas:
- Changes in objects and phenomena can be observed and described. (Stability and change)
- Objects and phenomena may change slowly or rapidly and some things appear to stay the same. (Stability and change)
- Some patterns can only be observed at certain time and spatial scales. (Patterns, order, and organisation)
When your students next progress through this core concept, they will observe and compare the properties of soil, rocks and minerals and investigate why they are important (Year 3).
Eliciting and linking students’ prior knowledge
Support students to relate their prior experiences to their current learning.
Asking open questions about a student’s hobbies or experiences in their family allows students to bring their own experiences to what they are learning. This provides context to the science content that they are learning. Questions that support this include:
- Who needs to know about...?
- Can someone describe a TV program that used...?
- Does anyone know someone who uses/does ... in their day/job?
- Has anyone seen something like this before? Can you describe it?
Asking open questions about a student’s hobbies or experiences in their family allows students to bring their own experiences to what they are learning. This provides context to the science content that they are learning. Questions that support this include:
- Who needs to know about...?
- Can someone describe a TV program that used...?
- Does anyone know someone who uses/does ... in their day/job?
- Has anyone seen something like this before? Can you describe it?
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
The Elicit routine provides opportunities to identify students’ prior experiences, existing science capital and potential alternative conceptions related to the Core concepts. The diagnostic assessment allows teachers to support their students to build connections between what they already know and the teaching and learning that occurs during the Inquire cycle.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider when and where students may have been exposed to the core concepts and key ideas in the past. Imagine how a situation would have looked without any prior knowledge. What ideas and thoughts might students have used to explain the situation or phenomenon? What alternative conceptions might your students hold? How will you identify these?
The Deep connected learning in the ‘Pedagogical Toolbox: Deep connected learning’ provides a set of tools to identify common alternative conceptions to aid teachers during this routine.
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkWeather framing
Take students on an ‘observation walk’ around the school or local area. Stop at suitable locations so that students can make their observations. Encourage talk between students to support them to describe what they are observing, and the sensations they’re feeling because of the weather. Suggest students close their eyes to focus on how their skin feels (hot, cold, sticky).
Provide each student with a frame or ask them to form a frame with their hands and fingers.
Students use the frames to focus on specific areas of the environment, such as the sky, clouds or any things that might be moving with the wind. They describe what they can see in each frame. Use questioning to draw out words that describe the weather and record them for the word wall.
Note: Looking directly at the Sun can cause permanent eye damage. In rare cases this might occur without any pain. Warn students against looking directly at the Sun at any time.
Students represent what they have just experienced and/or already know about weather by drawing in their journal.
Students share their drawings with the class. Record their ideas about the weather in the class science journal under the heading ‘What we think we know about weather’.
Alternative conceptions
What alternative conceptions about weather might students hold?
Taking account of students’ existing ideas is important in planning effective teaching approaches that help students learn science. Students develop their own ideas during their experiences in everyday life and might hold more than one idea about an event or phenomenon. Some preconceptions about ‘weather’ that students might believe but that are not scientifically correct are that weather is constant within the day; a tap turned on in the clouds or the clouds starting to sweat; when water evaporates from, for example, a wet playground, it ‘disappears’; condensation, for example, on a cold glass, is water ‘appearing’ or coming from the onside of the glass; clouds are made of cotton, stones, Earth, smoke or steam; clouds are made of cold, heat, fog, snow or night; clouds are sponges that hold water; weather is the same as climate; and clouds move because they are pushed by humans.
Students may not realise that the weather can change during the day. Some students may consider a weather forecast as a description of the origin of the weather rather than a prediction.
Taking account of students’ existing ideas is important in planning effective teaching approaches that help students learn science. Students develop their own ideas during their experiences in everyday life and might hold more than one idea about an event or phenomenon. Some preconceptions about ‘weather’ that students might believe but that are not scientifically correct are that weather is constant within the day; a tap turned on in the clouds or the clouds starting to sweat; when water evaporates from, for example, a wet playground, it ‘disappears’; condensation, for example, on a cold glass, is water ‘appearing’ or coming from the onside of the glass; clouds are made of cotton, stones, Earth, smoke or steam; clouds are made of cold, heat, fog, snow or night; clouds are sponges that hold water; weather is the same as climate; and clouds move because they are pushed by humans.
Students may not realise that the weather can change during the day. Some students may consider a weather forecast as a description of the origin of the weather rather than a prediction.
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
Science education consists of a series of key ideas and core concepts that can explain objects, events and phenomena, and link them to the experiences encountered by students in their lives. The purpose of the Anchor routine is to identify the key ideas and concepts in a way that builds and deepens students’ understanding. During the Launch phase, the Anchor routine provides a lens through which to view the classroom context, and a way to frame the key knowledge and skills students will be learning.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the core concepts and key ideas that are relevant. Break these into small bite-sized pieces that are relevant to the age and stage of your students. Consider possible alternative concepts that students might hold. How could you provide activities or ask questions that will allow students to consider what they know?
Discussing weather
Discuss if the weather observed today was the same yesterday/last week/on their last birthday etc., the different types of weather students have experienced, and changes in weather they may have observed.
- What was the weather like today?
- What was it like yesterday/on the weekend/last week? Was it the same as today?
- What different types of ‘weather’ have you seen and experienced?
- How does weather change from day to day?
- What about over a longer time? Is the weather the same all year round?
Students write a label or description for each picture in their science journal.
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
Each student comes to the classroom with experiences made up from science-related knowledge, attitudes, experiences and resources in their life. The Connect routine is designed to tap into these experiences and that of their wider community. It is also an opportunity to yarn with community leaders (where appropriate) to gain an understanding of the student’s lives, languages and interests. In the Launch phase, this routine identifies and uses the science capital of students as the foundation of the teaching sequence so students can appreciate the relevance of their learning and its potential impact on future decisions. In short, this routine moves beyond scientific literacy and increases the science capital in the classroom and science identity of the students.
When planning a teaching sequence, take an interest in the lives of your students. What are their hobbies, how do they travel to and from school? What might have happened in the lives of your students (i.e. blackouts) that might be relevant to your next teaching sequence? What context might be of interest to your students?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkDiscuss impacts of weather
Discuss how weather can impact what we can and can’t do sometimes, and what people do to plan and prepare for the weather.
- Does the weather change what we can and can’t do outside sometimes?
- Do people usually go swimming when it is cold or raining? If they do, where might they swim?
- What about playing outside, or on play equipment on a really hot day?
- What about if we want to eat lunch outside, have a picnic, or go on an excursion? How might the weather impact that?
- What might people do if they have to go outside when it’s raining? Really cold? Really hot? Windy?
Guide students to start thinking about the activity that they will be planning through this sequence (a picnic or a different school-related event, as is appropriate for your school).
Introduce the title ‘What we want to learn about weather’ in the class science journal.
Model and discuss the difference between making a statement (a claim followed by evidence) and asking questions. Model asking and recording questions about the weather, such as:
- What types of weather do we have?
- Is the weather always the same?
- What can we find out about the weather?
- What are the seasons? What is the weather like each season?
- How does the weather affect what you wear or do?
Students share questions they might have about the weather and record them in the class science journal. Record any questions related to seasons if they arise—this topic will be returned to in Lesson 6.
Refer to this question page after each lesson to see if any of the questions have been explored or answered through the activities and investigations in the unit, and to elicit and record further student questions about the weather.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- begin a class word wall or glossary, including the words from the lesson that students think would be useful to recall throughout the unit.
- At this stage, the word wall should only include words that students have offered themselves during the lesson. The word wall is added to in subsequent lessons. Thus, new vocabulary is introduced in context.
Science capital
Science capital is a measure of how much a student values and feels connected to science.
Science capital is a measure of how much a student values and feels connected to science. Each students brings a certain level of science capital into the classroom. This can be harnessed and increased by making the science they learn personal and relevant to their everyday life. Asking questions that draw out a student’s experiences allows students to ‘connect’ with what they will be learning.
Science capital is a measure of how much a student values and feels connected to science. Each students brings a certain level of science capital into the classroom. This can be harnessed and increased by making the science they learn personal and relevant to their everyday life. Asking questions that draw out a student’s experiences allows students to ‘connect’ with what they will be learning.