Year 5 Science Units 

Human Reproduction and Ageing

In the Human Reproduction and Ageing project, your child will learn what life cycles are, order the stages of life cycles for different animal species and compare them. They will learn what mammals are and the five key mammalian characteristics. They will sort vertebrates, deciding whether or not they are mammals. They will look closely at different mammalian life cycles and make comparisons. They will investigate the relationship between the mass of mammals and how long they carry their young by creating and interpreting scatter graphs. They will learn about the stages and processes of the human life cycle. They will learn about human gestation from embryo to birth. They will investigate how humans change and develop from infant to adolescence in the juvenile stage. They will learn about the changes that happen during puberty. They will interpret data about human growth and learn about the human reproductive system and sexual reproduction. They will learn about how humans change as they get older. They will investigate how ageing affects reaction times.

Earth and Space

In the Earth and Space project, your child will learn the names of the planets in the Solar System before creating a model outdoors to describe its scale, movement and features. They will learn how scientists throughout history used different methods to study the Solar System and came to understand how the planets orbited the Sun. They will make a model and use it to explain the orbits of the Moon around the Earth and the Earth around the Sun. They will identify the spherical shape of the Sun, Earth and Moon. They will learn how people in ancient civilisations believed the Earth was flat and how evidence proved the Earth was a sphere. They will know that the Earth's rotation creates a range of phenomena, including day and night and the appearance of the Sun rising above the horizon in the east at sunrise, moving across the sky and then setting below the horizon in the west at sunset, and use equipment to model these phenomena. They will make and use sundials to learn how people in the past used the Earth's rotation, the angle of the sunlight, and the length and direction of shadows to tell the time. They will learn that the Earth's tilt and rotation as it orbits the Sun creates different seasons and day lengths in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the effect of similar amounts of direct sunlight all year round in the tropics. They will research the times of day on the Earth in different locations and describe how Earth's rotation creates this phenomenon. They will learn about the Moon's orbit and name and explain the eight phases of the Moon. They will research how solar and lunar eclipses occur and create labelled diagrams to show their findings. Children will complete their learning by conducting an in-depth study of either Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune and compare the planet's scale, features and movement to that of the Earth.

Forces and Mechanisms 

In the Forces and Mechanisms project, your child will revisit prior learning about forces, identifying what a force is and discussing the two types, including contact and non-contact forces. They will learn that gravity is a force of attraction and follow instructions to observe gravity in action. They will learn the meanings of the terms 'mass' and 'weight' and their units of measurement, following instructions to record the mass and weight of various everyday objects using a piece of equipment called a force meter. They will revisit learning about friction, discussing situations where it can be helpful or where we need to minimise its effects. They will learn about the frictional forces called air and water resistance in detail and conduct investigations to observe these frictional forces in action. They will learn about mechanisms, including gears, pulleys and levers and follow instructions to investigate how these simple machines use forces to make tasks easier. They will generate scientific questions they wish to study further on the theme of forces and mechanisms and research to find the answers. They will complete their learning by examining the forces involved in riding a bicycle and the parts that are gears, pulleys and levers.

Properties and Changes of Materials 

In the Properties and Changes of Materials project, your child will revisit prior learning about the properties of materials. They will plan and carry out tests to determine the properties of a range of materials. They will use their results to suggest suitable materials for different purposes. They will learn about the property of thermal conductivity and identify materials that are thermal conductors and insulators. They will also learn about the property of solubility and test various materials to discover which are soluble and insoluble. They will find out about heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures and will separate heterogeneous mixtures using sieving and filtration. They will also separate homogeneous mixtures, investigating how to reverse dissolving by evaporation. They will ask scientific questions about separating unusual mixtures and research to find out the answers. They will learn the difference between reversible and irreversible changes and follow instructions to observe the signs of an irreversible change firsthand. They will complete their learning by finding out about materials scientists and their innovative materials.

Sow, Grow and Farm

This Science unit is linked to the geography unit of Sow, Grow and Farm. In the Sow, Grow and Farm project, your child will learn about allotments in the United Kingdom and how the government encouraged people to have them to support food rationing during the Second World War. They will learn about food webs and animal life cycles, including how living things are dependent on one another within a habitat. They will investigate the different ways that plants reproduce and will dissect flowering plants to identify the different structures. They will have the opportunity to learn about farming in the United Kingdom and the techniques used in modern farming, including the challenges that farmers face. They will learn about the benefits of eating seasonally and about the pros and cons of importing food. They will also learn about world farming and how the different climate zones affect where different foods can be grown.