Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students use their prior knowledge to explain how appliances are used in their homes and classroom each day.

Learning goals:

  • Students learn that appliances in homes and the classroom have a variety of functions.

Australian Curriculum Mapping 

Content descriptions:

Year 1 Science

  • People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things (ACSHE022)

Year 1 Mathematics

  • Represent data with objects and drawings where one object or drawing represents one data value. Describe the displays (ACMSP263)

Year 2 Science

  • Earth’s resources, including water, are used in a variety of ways (ACSSU032)
  • People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things (ACSHE035)

Year 2 Mathematics

  • Create displays of data using lists, table and picture graphs and interpret them (ACMSP050)

Syllabus Outcomes: ST1-11LW, ST1-9ES, MA1‑1WM, MA1‑2WM, MA1‑3WM, MA1-17SP.

Topic: Energy

Year levels: 1 and 2

Indoor or outdoor activity: Indoor

Time required: 30 mins

Level of teacher scaffolding: Assist students to observe and name appliances in the classroom and understand the activity sheet.

Resources required: Complete online or print out the activity and provide colour pencils or markers. Look at the list of things that you might have in your house or at your school.

Keywords: Energy, appliances, classroom.

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher preparation:

Hot tips: This prior learning activity can be done in two ways:

  1. Students who have not developed independent writing skills can colour the box or write movement, heating and cooling, sound or light.
  2. Students who have developed some independent writing skills can write some words in the box of their choosing.

Student and Classroom organisation:

Step 1. Give each student a copy of the student worksheet or they can complete this on your smartboard, blackboard or whiteboard. Explain that each of the appliances in the student worksheet table use electricity to keep things warm or cool, to make sound, to give us light, or to move things. Working together as a class and using the colours that we have suggested, ask your students to colour each appliance box to show what that appliance does.

Step 2. Help your students to think about this by looking at the things in the classroom that use electricity. Is there a fan on the ceiling? What does the fan do? Does it

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Student Worksheet

Thought starter: Where does electricity come from?

Look at this list of things that you might have in your house or at your school.

They all use electricity, but what do they do? What sort of energy do they make?

Do you need electricity to make them move? Or do they make light or sound? Or do you need electricity to make heat or to cool things down?

Use the colours we have suggested to show what sort of energy these things make.

BLUE for Movement

RED for Heating or cooling

GREEN for Sound

YELLOW for Light

TV

Hairdryer

Oven

Fridge/freezer

Computer

Microwave

Heater

Kettle

Light globe

Air conditioner

Radio/stereo

Fan

Shaver

Toaster

What do we need electricity for at school?

Appliance Do you have these in your classroom?
Colour blue for yes
Colour pink for no		 Do you use this everyday?
Colour red for yes
Col
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