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Indigenous perspectives

For PrimaryConnections facilitators and trialling teachers

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To order PrimaryConnections curriculum units please use the online order form

Curriculum Resource Unit Map
National Scientific Literacy Progress Map
PrimaryConnections 5Es teaching and learning model
PrimaryConnections Scope and sequence map
Unit planner
Backward design unit planner
Good Science Books for children

PC Stage 3 Curriculum Planning Documents

Literacy focuses across PrimaryConnections curriculum units. (PDF)
Investigating outcomes across PrimaryConnections curriculum units. (PDF)
Conceptual outcomes across PrimaryConnections curriculum units. (PDF)
Scope and Sequence Overview PrimaryConnections curriculum units. (PDF)

Available units

Stage	Earth and Beyond	Energy and Change	Life and Living	Natural and Processed Materials
Early Stage 1	Weather in my world	On the move	Staying alive ****	What's it made of?
1		Sounds sensational	Schoolyard safari ***	Spot the difference
	Water works	Push-pull *****
2	Spinning in space **	Light fantastic **	Plants in action
		Smooth moves ****		Material world
3	Earthquake explorers	It's electrifying	Marvellous micro-organisms	Package it better
				Change detectives

*	Statements of Learning for Science (MCEETYA, 2006)
**	It is recommended that Light Fantastic be taught before Spinning in space to provide students with learning opportunities that introduce and explain concepts about light which are used in the Spinning in space unit.
***	It is usually easier to find small invertebrates in warmer seasons.
****	It is recommended that Staying Alive be taught in the first term.
*****	It is recommended that the Push pull unit be taught before the Smooth moves unit to provide students with learning opportunities that introduce and explain concepts about forces and motion which are used in the Smooth moves unit.
	Incorporating Indigenous perspectives

Curriculum resource

PrimaryConnections units provide students with opportunities to learn science as a human endeavour, a way to know and as a body of knowledge (MCEETYA, 2006).

The units develop students' skills of working scientifically as they undertake investigations and communicate their understanding about science. Science concepts are described in four conceptual strands:

• Earth and Beyond (Earth and Space)
• Energy and Change (Energy and Force)
• Life and Living (Living Things), and
• Natural and Processed Materials (Matter).

A Curriculum Resource Unit Map has been developed to guide the development of the curriculum resource. Unit topics are drawn from a summary of the curriculum documents of all states and territories and the Statements of Learning for Science approved by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA, 2006).

The units have been organised into four stages of learning:

• Early Stage 1
• Stage 1
• Stage 2
• Stage 3

The stages are linked to the years of schooling and outcome levels in the National Scientific Literacy Progress Map, which was developed for the Year 6 national assessments of scientific literacy (MCEETYA, 2005). The four developmental stages of the primary school years map to the levels of the National Scientific Literacy Progress Map as follows:

Stages, years and outcome levels

PrimaryConnections stage	Years of schooling	Outcome levels*
Early Stage 1	1	<1-1
Stage 1	2-3	1-2
Stage 2	4-5	2-3
Stage 3	6-7	3-4

* From the National Scientific Literacy Progress Map (MCEETYA, 2005)

The resource is modular in format and supports science teaching across the primary school. Development of the units is guided by the PrimaryConnections 5Es teaching and learning model and supported by resources for both students and teachers. A unit planner and supporting documentation has been developed to allow teachers the flexibility to develop and customise their own units.

Each unit contains:

• a unit overview;
• unit outcomes;
• lessons with step-by-step instructions, lesson overview, and science and literacy outcomes;
• equipment requirements;
• planning information with links to additional resources;
• embedded and authentic assessment tasks;
• relevant literacy focuses;
• opportunities to extend the students' learning;
• science background information;
• student resource sheets (including stimulus material and questions to scaffold student activities);
• accompanying resources available on the PrimaryConnections website.

Unit planner

Save the unit planner in a location of your choice and use it to develop an overview summary of your own unit. (PDF)

Save the Backward design unit planner in a location of your choice and use it to develop an overview summary of your own unit. (PDF)

References

MCEETYA (2005). National Year 6 Science Assessment Report: 2003. Melbourne: Curriculum Corporation.
MCEETYA (2006). Statements of Learning for Science. Melbourne: Curriculum Corporation.