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Students read some information about testing the absorbency of different papers. They outline two features that need to be kept the same if the tests were to be fair.

For this practical task students use their knowledge about the properties of gases to explain their observations when they blow up a balloon that is inside a bottle and a balloon that is not inside a bottle.

Task: Look at the arrangement of fibres for four different paper towels, arrange an appropriate sequence of instructions, carry out the instructions and then communicate the data in an appropriate graph that will help answer the question. Different elements of the nature of science are embedded throughout the tasks. Assessment focus: planning and carrying out a fair test, using evidence to answer a question.

This practical task requires students to make observations and draw diagrams about diffusion that occurs when food colouring is added to water.

Students indicate for each of six different variables those that need to be kept the same for an investigation about dissolving different types of sugar.

Task: Match everyday terms about properties with their meanings. Use their understanding about properties of paper and their uses to justify appropriate questions to investigate. Assessment focus: asking questions about paper properties.

Task: Measure 100mL of water into three different pieces of equipment. Weigh the result and calculate the precision of using that piece of equipment. Assessment focus: measuring and evaluating the accuracy of equipment.

Task: Students fill in a chart to select the best material for making 6 objects, and give reasons for their answers. Assessment focus: properties of materials related to use.

For this practical task students record their observations as an egg is poached in water.

This task requires students to determine the best way to dissolve Milo the quickest. Students are given the opportunity to determine this by trial and error, then they are asked to write up their result and a conclusion.

For this practical task students make a prediction about which lot of ice will melt first. Then students record their observations and explain why one lot of ice melted faster than the other.

Students look at two diagrams. The first shows iron nails in test tubes with boiled water or tap water, the second shows iron nails with moisture either present or absent. Students answer five questions about these investigations.

Task: Predict, Observe, Explain, (POE) activity observing what happens to air in a balloon when it is heated. Assessment focus: behaviour of gases when heated and cooled.

Task: Identify the variables for testing how fresh water and salt water affect rusting. Assessment focus: planning a fair test.

Use knowledge of insulation to answer questions about baked Alaska dessert, and how it compares to a chilly bin. Assessment focus: Interpreting diagrams, interpreting analogies, and using knowledge of insulation.

Task: Process and interpret data in a table to identify the best paper to use for a game. Evaluate the reliability of the collected data. Assessment focus: using evidence to answer a question.

Task: Use understandings about heat energy and insulation to describe how adaptations help Emperor penguins survive in Antarctica. Assessment focus: adaptations for keeping warm in cold conditions.

Students use their knowledge of the fire triangle to identify risk factors for a given scenario, and apply this to their own situation. They use rubrics to rate and improve some of their explanations.

Students decide if a statement is correct and then give a reason for their answer. Assessment focus: Using science ideas to explain a view.

Answer questions about rubbish picked up on a beach, and suggest reasons why plastic is the most common rubbish.

Task: Draw what happens when sugar is added to a cup of coffee. Assessment focus: dissolving.

Students consider the potential for chemical change when a range of everyday substances are mixed. They use logical reasoning to work out the consequences of four pairs of reactions.

Task: Describe what happens to ice in a glass of water, giving reasons, and explain where water forming on the outside of the glass comes from. Assessment focus: changes of state.

Task: Describe where water goes when washing is drying and from a swimming pool, and discuss factors that affect this process. Assessment focus: evaporation.

Task: Answer two questions about melting and two questions about dissolving. Assessment focus: describe and explain melting and dissolving.