Year 1 Science Achievement Standard
9 statements aligned to content descriptors and elaborations
Achievement standard (as ACARA publishes it)
Achievement standard
Click any sentence to jump to its statement and linked content descriptors.
By the end of Year 1 students identify how living things meet their needs in the places they live. They identify daily and seasonal changes and describe ways these changes affect their everyday life. They describe how different pushes and pulls change the motion and shape of objects. They describe situations where they use science in their daily lives and identify examples of people making scientific predictions.
Students pose questions to explore observations and make predictions based on experiences. They follow safe procedures to make and record observations. They use provided tables and organisers to sort and order data and information and, with guidance, represent patterns. With guidance, they compare observations with predictions and identify further questions. They use everyday vocabulary to communicate observations, findings and ideas.
The 9 achievement standard statements
Open a statement to see the content descriptors ACARA links to it, then open a descriptor's elaborations.
By the end of Year 1 students identify how living things meet their needs in the places they live.
Content descriptorAC9S1U01 Science understanding
identify the basic needs of plants and animals, including air, water, food or shelter, and describe how the places they live meet those needs
Elaborations (6)
- Elaboration identifying the places where plants and animals live, including in our homes, local areas such as ponds, national parks, gardens or zoos
- Elaboration identifying what they do to look after pets or plants at home and grouping these activities
- Elaboration identifying and comparing the needs of a variety of plants and animals, including humans, based on their own experiences
- Elaboration creating dioramas of a place a plant or animal lives, and identifying the features that enable it to meet its needs
- Elaboration recognising how First Nations Australians care for living things
- Elaboration exploring why caring for plants and animals is important including as sources of food and fibre
They identify daily and seasonal changes and describe ways these changes affect their everyday life.
Content descriptorAC9S1U02 Science understanding
describe daily and seasonal changes in the environment and explore how these changes affect everyday life
Elaborations (7)
- Elaboration making and recording observations of phenomena such as changes to weather, seasonal changes to plants such as colour or dropping of leaves, and growth of flowers or fruit
- Elaboration noticing how daily weather indicators and seasonal patterns help us to make plans for activities in our daily lives
- Elaboration investigating how seasonal changes affect plants and animals, including animals that hibernate and migrate
- Elaboration investigating how changes in the weather affect plants and animals, including humans
- Elaboration exploring how people make clothing choices using predictions of weather or knowledge of seasonal changes
- Elaboration recognising the extensive knowledges of daily and seasonal changes in weather patterns and landscape held by First Nations Australians
- Elaboration exploring how First Nations Australians’ concepts of time and weather patterns explain how things happen in the world around them
They describe how different pushes and pulls change the motion and shape of objects.
Content descriptorAC9S1U03 Science understanding
describe pushes and pulls in terms of strength and direction and predict the effect of these forces on objects’ motion and shape
Elaborations (7)
- Elaboration observing and manipulating everyday objects such as playground equipment, toys, windows or doors and identifying the forces used to move these objects
- Elaboration investigating how the design of age-appropriate sporting equipment such as paddles, plastic bats and racquets help to produce stronger pushes and pulls
- Elaboration recognising that pushing or pulling on an object can start or stop its motion or change its direction of travel
- Elaboration exploring ways the shape of playdough can be changed when pushed or pulled
- Elaboration designing playground equipment, toys or games and representing push and pull forces involved using models, digital drawings or role-play
- Elaboration investigating the push and pull movements of traditional First Nations Australians children’s instructive toys
- Elaboration exploring how traditional Asian toys and games such as a kendama, Daruma Otoshi or shuttlecock are played using a push or pull
They describe situations where they use science in their daily lives and identify examples of people making scientific predictions.
Content descriptorAC9S1H01 Science as a human endeavour
describe how people use science in their daily lives, including using patterns to make scientific predictions
Elaborations (8)
- Elaboration learning from farmers, bush care volunteers, gardeners or nursery owners about how they observe the needs of plants, and how they have designed or managed habitats to meet those needs
- Elaboration identifying ways that science knowledge is used in the care of the local environment and suggesting ways local gardens or parks could better meet the needs of native animals
- Elaboration investigating how First Nations Australians use science to meet their needs, such as food and water supply and shelter
- Elaboration recognising how First Nations Australians use changes in the landscape and the sky to answer questions about when to gather certain resources
- Elaboration learning from local ecologists or wildlife carers about native animals’ needs and how they observe animal behaviour to design supports for them to meet those needs, such as building frog and insect hotels and nesting boxes or recycling materials to provide habitat
- Elaboration sharing examples of how they have used science knowledge at home, such as by listening to or viewing weather forecasts or observing weather patterns when planning family events or outings, or wearing appropriate clothing for the season
- Elaboration identifying how we use pushes and pulls when preparing meals, and the tools that help us push or pull objects
- Elaboration exploring how engineers use knowledge of forces to create new playground equipment or toys
Students pose questions to explore observations and make predictions based on experiences.
Content descriptorAC9S1I01 Science inquiry
pose questions to explore observed simple patterns and relationships and make predictions based on experiences
Elaborations (5)
- Elaboration posing questions about simple relationships between push and pull forces, such as: ‘Does a toy car go further if it is pushed harder?’
- Elaboration posing questions about how animals meet their needs in particular places, such as: ‘Where does it shelter? Where does it get water from?’
- Elaboration making predictions about plant needs, such as: ‘I think a plant will die if it doesn’t get enough water’
- Elaboration making predictions about types of animals and plants they might observe in a particular place, such as a garden or pond
- Elaboration making predictions about patterns of observable phenomena such as seasonal changes of plants or changes in temperatures across the seasons
They follow safe procedures to make and record observations.
Content descriptorAC9S1I02 Science inquiry
suggest and follow safe procedures to investigate questions and test predictions
Elaborations (4)
- Elaboration suggesting ways to conduct investigations safely, including being sun safe, using age-appropriate equipment such as plastic goggles and aprons, or following teacher instructions promptly
- Elaboration following steps in a guided investigation to determine how different objects move when pushed or pulled
- Elaboration exploring different ways of investigating science questions through guided discussion
- Elaboration suggesting steps for setting up and packing away equipment
Content descriptorAC9S1I03 Science inquiry
make and record observations, including informal measurements, using digital tools as appropriate
Elaborations (4)
- Elaboration exploring what an observation is, and different ways to make observations through guided discussion
- Elaboration counting and using informal measurements such as cups, handspans, walking paces, blocks, pencil lengths or lengths of string
- Elaboration making suggestions about types of measurements that may be made during an investigation, including using blocks to measure plant growth or paces to measure how far an object has moved
- Elaboration recording observations through text, drawing, counts, informal measurements, digital photography or video
They use provided tables and organisers to sort and order data and information and, with guidance, represent patterns.
Content descriptorAC9S1I04 Science inquiry
sort and order data and information and represent patterns, including with provided tables and visual or physical models
Elaborations (5)
- Elaboration using pictographs featuring drawings or digital photographs and tables of measurements to document patterns of growth of plants
- Elaboration using digital photography to show how pushes and pulls affect the shape of an object and sorting images into before and after columns of a table
- Elaboration using drawings or digital photographs to document changes in weather over a series of days or weeks
- Elaboration ordering images of seasonal changes across the year
- Elaboration using graphic organisers to sort data into groups, such as plants and animals, or objects around the home that need a push or pull force to work
With guidance, they compare observations with predictions and identify further questions.
Content descriptorAC9S1I05 Science inquiry
compare observations with predictions and others’ observations, consider if investigations are fair and identify further questions with guidance
Elaborations (5)
- Elaboration comparing observations with those of others, such as how many birds each group counted in the playground or how much each group’s seedling has grown in a week
- Elaboration consulting with First Nations Australians to compare observations and evaluate identifications of animal tracks
- Elaboration exploring if making weather observations at different times of day makes a difference and considering how they could compare weather across each day more fairly
- Elaboration comparing observations of movement with predictions, such as how far an object travels
- Elaboration exploring if all ‘big’ pushes are the same by comparing how far an object travels with different students doing the pushing, and discussing how they could have made the investigation fairer
They use everyday vocabulary to communicate observations, findings and ideas.
Content descriptorAC9S1I06 Science inquiry
write and create texts to communicate observations, findings and ideas, using everyday and scientific vocabulary
Elaborations (6)
- Elaboration exploring the difference between everyday and scientific vocabulary when describing objects or events
- Elaboration acknowledging and learning about First Nations Australians’ ways of representing and sharing observations
- Elaboration creating models of the place a plant or animal lives using recycled objects, modelling clay, toys or drawings
- Elaboration representing seasonal changes of plants using sequential drawings, calendars or digital photographs
- Elaboration representing push and pull forces using role-play, labels, arrows or time lapse drawings and describing their representation using everyday and scientific vocabulary
- Elaboration role-playing or recounting how people they know or have observed identify and use patterns to make predictions at work or in their daily lives
This achievement standard describes the expected learning for Year 1 Science. Use it to plan teaching and assessment with the Australian Curriculum v9.
At a Glance
| Strand | Substrand | CDs | Elaborations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science as a human endeavour | Use and influence of science | 1 | 8 |
| Science inquiry | Questioning and predicting | 1 | 5 |
| Science inquiry | Planning and conducting | 2 | 8 |
| Science inquiry | Processing, modelling and analysing | 1 | 5 |
| Science inquiry | Evaluating | 1 | 5 |
| Science inquiry | Communicating | 1 | 6 |
| Science understanding | Biological sciences | 1 | 6 |
| Science understanding | Earth and space sciences | 1 | 7 |
| Science understanding | Physical sciences | 1 | 7 |
| Total | 10 | 57 | |