AC9S2I04: Sort and order data and information and represent patterns, including with provided tables and visual or physical models

Data becomes easier to understand when it is sorted into meaningful groups, placed in a useful order and represented in a table, sequence or model.

Learning sequence: Collect → Sort → Order → Represent → Describe pattern

Success looks like

• Sort with a rule
• Order data
• Use tables
• Use visual models
• Describe patterns

Sort first, then look for a pattern

Order data to reveal change

The content description and elaborations below show the curriculum ideas taught in this unit. Items marked as teaching context support lesson planning.

• Content description: sort and order data and information and represent patterns, including with provided tables and visual or physical models
• E1: adding labels to a drawing or digital photograph to indicate key features, such as properties of materials that stay the same when changed physically, or to indicate how sound is produced by an instrument
• E2: ordering images of the changing appearance of the moon to show a monthly cycle
• E3: using a graphic organiser to sort images of musical instruments and the actions used to produce their sound
• E4: constructing simple column graphs and picture graphs with guidance to represent class investigations, such as recording objects that produce or do not produce sound
• E5: completing a table to record the number of ways different materials can be changed physically

Key idea: Data becomes easier to understand when it is sorted into meaningful groups, placed in a useful order and represented in a table, sequence or model.

Remember

• Sort with a rule
• Order data
• Use tables
• Use visual models
• Describe patterns

Quick questions

• Why sort data?
• Give one useful ordering rule.
• What must stay accurate in a table?
• How can ordering reveal a pattern?

If an answer is uncertain, return to the model and explain what each part represents before calculating or drawing a conclusion.

Read the topic guide and use the teacher slide for instruction. Students can then use the worksheet for written work, open Practice for supported feedback, or take the Test when they are ready.

• Categories overlap without reason — Use a clear rule so each item has a sensible place.
• Data left unordered — Choose an order that helps answer the question.
• Representation changes values — Keep the original observations and counts accurate.

This table gives closest-topic mapping for search and planning. The Australian Curriculum code is exact; overseas entries are broad equivalents because each jurisdiction structures outcomes differently.

Curriculum equivalents for And order data and information and represent patterns, including with...

Mapped skill: sort and order data and information and represent patterns, including with provided tables and visual or physical models

These references identify matching or closely related learning. Curriculum sequence, terminology and depth vary, so teachers should use the mapped skill and lesson difficulty to confirm suitability.

Australian Curriculum v9.0 is the canonical source for this SkillrHub lesson. Victoria and NSW entries name the closest published state codes or outcomes; international entries are planning references rather than claims of identical curricula.

• Australian Curriculum Version 9.0
• Victorian Curriculum F-10
• NSW Curriculum
• Common Core State Standards
• Next Generation Science Standards
• England National Curriculum
• New Zealand Curriculum
• NCERT textbooks

• AC9S2U01: Recognise Earth is a planet in the solar system and identify patterns in the changing position of the sun, moon, planets and stars in the sky
• AC9S2U02: Explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate
• AC9S2U03: Recognise that materials can be changed physically without changing their material composition and explore the effect of different actions on materials including bending, twisting, stretching and breaking into smaller pieces
• AC9S2H01: Describe how people use science in their daily lives, including using patterns to make scientific predictions
• AC9S2I01: Pose questions to explore observed simple patterns and relationships and make predictions based on experiences
• AC9S2I02: Suggest and follow safe procedures to investigate questions and test predictions
• AC9S2I03: Make and record observations, including informal measurements, using digital tools as appropriate
• AC9S2I05: Compare observations with predictions and others’ observations, consider if investigations are fair and identify further questions with guidance