What students learn in AC9S2U02
This unit helps students build a clear, usable understanding of Different actions to make sounds and how to make a.... The goal is not to memorise one answer pattern. Students should be able to explain the idea, recognise it in a new example and apply it in a short practice or worksheet task.
- Start with the main idea: explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate.
- Use concrete examples, pictures, oral explanation and short written responses before moving to independent practice.
- building vocabulary for describing sound, such as loudness and pitch, and comparing sounds made by musical instruments exploring different ways to produce sound using familiar objects and actions such as striking, blowing, scraping, plucking and shaking
- Finish with mixed questions so students must choose the correct strategy rather than copy the last example.
Curriculum coverage and elaborations
The content description and elaborations below show the curriculum ideas taught in this unit. Items marked as teaching context support lesson planning but may not appear in the initial eight-question activity.
- Content description: explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate
- E1: building vocabulary for describing sound, such as loudness and pitch, and comparing sounds made by musical instruments
- E2: exploring different ways to produce sound using familiar objects and actions such as striking, blowing, scraping, plucking and shaking
- E3: exploring how traditional musical instruments used by First Nations Australians produce their characteristic sounds (teaching context)
- E4: exploring how voices have a unique sound by playing games such as guess the speaker
- E5: observing vibrations produced by a twanged ruler held on a desk and experimenting with different ways of holding or positioning the ruler to produce observably different vibrations and sounds
- E6: investigating how sound energy makes things vibrate such as when speaking, using tuning forks or observing music speakers
- E7: investigating which materials best muffle sound
- E8: designing and making instruments that produce different sounds, such as drums, rain makers, thongophones or box guitars
- E9: discussing situations in which they have heard echoes and exploring how humans with vision impairment and other animals such as dolphins and bats use echolocation to locate objects in their environments
How to use this unit
Read the topic guide, use the teacher slide for instruction, then complete the Worksheet, Practice and Test. These three activities use the same eight-question unit bank.
Teacher resource
AC9S2U02 teacher slide
Use this one-page PDF to introduce the key idea, vocabulary and teaching sequence before students begin the activities.
Open teacher slide (PDF)Common mistakes to watch for
- Describing what is seen without connecting it to a question, pattern or prediction.
- Using everyday words only and missing simple scientific vocabulary.
- Changing more than one thing in an investigation, which makes the comparison unfair.
International curriculum mapping
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.
| Region | Curriculum | Closest mapping |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Australian Curriculum v9.0 | AC9S2U02 — explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate |
| Victoria | Victorian Curriculum F-10 | Year 2 Science: closest match in Physical sciences. Use this page as a VIC-aligned practice and worksheet reference. |
| NSW | NSW Curriculum | Stage 1 Science: closest content focus for Different actions to make sounds and how to make a... and related outcomes. |
| United States | Common Core / NGSS | Grade 2 NGSS science closest topic match for Different actions to make sounds and how to make a.... |
| England / UK | National Curriculum | Key Stage 1 / Year 2: closest programme-of-study match for Different actions to make sounds and how to make a.... |
| Canada | Provincial and territory curricula | Grade 2 closest topic match. Canada varies by province, so use this as a broad Ontario/BC-style learning outcome reference. |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Curriculum | Level 1 Science: closest achievement-objective topic for Different actions to make sounds and how to make a.... |
| India | NCERT / CBSE | Class 2 closest NCERT/CBSE topic match for Different actions to make sounds and how to make a.... |