Year 5 - Science
Properties of materials
Properties, changes and separating materials
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores the properties of everyday materials, including hardness, solubility, and conductivity. It covers reversible changes like dissolving and mixing, and irreversible changes such as burning. Emphasis is on scientific enquiries, data recording, and presenting findings with evidence.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to compare and group together materials based on their simple properties: rigidity, transparency, electric conductivity and magnetism.
Key Notes
- A material is the substance from which something is made.
- The physical properties of a material are the features that can be observed or measured.
- Different materials have different physical properties.
- Scientists test materials to investigate their physical properties.
- Materials can be compared and grouped on the basis of their physical properties.
Vocabulary To Learn
- material: A material is the substance that objects are made from such as wood, metal or plastic.
- physical properties: The physical properties of a material are the features that can be observed or measured.
- transparent: Transparent materials let light pass through so you can see clearly through them.
- electrical conductor: An electrical conductor is a material that allows electricity to pass through it easily.
- magnetic: Magnetic materials are materials that are attracted to magnets.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- All materials of a given type, such as wood, metal and plastic have the same properties.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
A material is the substance from which something is made. The physical properties of a material are the features that can be observed or measured.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'material'
A material is the substance that objects are made from such as wood, metal or plastic. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: All materials of a given type, such as wood, metal and plastic have the same properties. Correction: Children will consider examples of different objects made from different types of wood, metal and plastic to promote discussion of the properties of materials.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Bioplastics (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Burning plants as fuel (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Burning: an irreversible change Study Guide
- Everyday uses of thermal insulators Study Guide
- Greenhouse gases (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- How scientists work Study Guide
- Insulating our homes and schools (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- More irreversible changes Study Guide
- More reversible changes Study Guide
- Providing safe drinking water (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Recovering insoluble solids Study Guide
- Removing salt from seawater (non-statutory) Study Guide
- Reversible changes of state Study Guide
- Rusting: an irreversible change Study Guide
- Separating soluble solids from solutions Study Guide
- Soluble and insoluble Study Guide
- Thermal insulators: do and review Study Guide
- Thermal insulators: plan Study Guide
- Uses of everyday materials Study Guide
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