Thinking resources

Task: Plan a fair test to see if adding salt water to water affects how long it takes to freeze. Assessment focus: managing variables.

This practical task requires students to carry out three tests to find out if each element is a metal or non-metal.

Students outline a test they could do to show if a substance is a metal or not.

Students identify the variables to be kept constant, and the variable to be different, when they plan a fair test to show if green plants need light to grow.

Task: Identify how features/adaptations of a starfish help it survive, and decide whether the amount of evidence from scientists' observations supports or does not support their theory/inference. Assessment focus: using observations as evidence to inform theories.

Students predict whether two dice games are fair and give their reasons. They then play each game (investigate) fifty times and explain their results.

Students count the number of pairs thrown in a series of throws of three dice to evaluate the long-run relative frequency of getting a pair.

Students attempt to persuade the adults in their families that they should be able to have a dog. They construct an argument by writing replies to the adults' statements.

Students produce a simple written description, using nouns and adjectives with some precision.

Task: Decide which of two graphs e.g., tally chart, pictograph, bar graph is represented by a picture and explain how the graph/s are interpreted.

Task: Make careful observations of a picture to decide what you can see and what you might know but can't see.

Students identify types of figures of speech used in some common phrases.

Students conduct a statistical investigation about their prediction of the most common words used in English. They make graphs, describe their shape, and compare their own graph with ones that other students produce.

Task: Predict, observe and explain what will happen when a balloon containing another balloon filled with water is thrown. Assessment focus: making and explaining predictions and observations.

Students first do the science activity Throwing Balloons - investigation (PW2548) where they predict, observe, and explain what will happen when a balloon containing another balloon filled with water is thrown. Then the students do this writing task where they describe the balloon and what happened when it was thrown, and explain why they think it moved the way it did. Six annotated exemplars of student scripts (writing) are included under the "Working with Students" tab.

The assessment focus is on student ability to make inferences about character and justify these with evidence from text.

Students read an article on dog grooming. They find information to complete a retrieval chart and answer comprehension questions. SJ-1-1-1997. Text not provided.

Students read an article on starfish and find factual information to complete a retrieval chart and answer comprehension questions. SJ-1-2-1999. Text not provided.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify and justify evidence used to visualise and make inferences about a character and setting.

Students explain who is most likely to win a game based on spinners, and how the game could be made fair.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to evaluate the ideas and information in a text about an environmental issue. Students are asked to read a text, then respond to four questions. SJ-4-3-2005. Text not provided.

Students are asked to match six everyday objects to the main energy transformation that occurs in each of these objects.

Students enlarge a shape made of cubes and explore the relationship between the scale factor and volume.

In this practical task students design a net for a lidded cardboard cube to hold a tennis ball. They then cut out and construct the cube.

In this practical task students design a net for a lidded cardboard box to hold 3 "chocolate bars" represented by hundreds blocks. They then cut out and construct the box.