Curriculum strand
Physical Sciences Incursions
Forces, motion, energy, light, sound and electricity. Six incursions covering the Physical Sciences strand of the Victorian Curriculum 2.0, from Foundation through to Year 6.
$490 + GST per session, flat. No per-student fees. Bookings have a 2-session minimum.
What the Physical Sciences strand actually covers
Physical Sciences is the strand about how things move and how energy travels. In the early years that means pushes and pulls, rolling and sliding, testing which materials and shapes float, and sorting materials as transparent, translucent or opaque to see how light travels in straight lines and makes shadows. By the middle years it is forces you can measure on a spring balance, friction you can compare across surfaces, and heat you can track from one object to another, with temperature and heat treated as two different things.
By Year 5 and 6 it is circuits, conductors and light behaviour. Students compare chemical and mechanical sources of electricity by using batteries and then turning a hand-crank generator, and they use diffraction gratings, lenses and UV-reactive materials to look at dispersion, magnification and ultraviolet light.
It is also the strand most likely to be taught from a worksheet, because the equipment is fiddly and the failure modes are messy. That is the gap these sessions fill. We arrive with the trolleys, torches, batteries and wire, and every student gets their hands on them.
The programs below span three year bands. Each one lists the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 content descriptions it addresses on its own page.
Curriculum coverage
The distinct Victorian Curriculum v2.0 content descriptions addressed across the programs on this page.
- VC2S2U10Core
The way an object moves depends on factors including its size, shape and the material it is made from. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2U11Core
Pushes and pulls can change the speed, direction or shape of an object, and vary in strength and direction. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2I01Core
Experiences and observations can be used as a basis for posing questions and making predictions about familiar objects and events. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2U12Core
Sound is produced by vibrating materials, and the pitch and volume of a sound can be changed. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2I03Core
Guided investigations, including making observations using the senses and informal measurement, can be used to explore and answer questions. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6U08Core
Light from a source travels in straight lines, forms shadows, and can be absorbed, transmitted, reflected or refracted. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4U10Core
Contact forces and non-contact forces, including friction, gravity, magnetism and static electricity, can be exerted between objects and affect their motion. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4I03Core
Formal measurements, including the use of familiar scaled instruments, can be made and recorded to represent and compare data. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4U09Core
Heat can be produced in different ways, including chemical, electrical and radiated heat, and temperature change is related to heat transfer. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6U09Core
Materials can be electrical conductors or insulators; energy is transferred and transformed in electrical circuits, with each component playing a particular role. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6I03Core
Equipment can be used to observe, generate, measure and record data with reasonable precision for repeated measurements, using digital tools as appropriate. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6I01Core
Investigable questions and reasoned predictions can be used in guiding investigations to identify patterns and test relationships. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE6C01Core
Explain how electrical energy can be transformed into movement, sound or light in a product or system. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE2C01Related
Explain how technologies, including force and motion, affect the way products and systems move. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2I05Related
Observations and results can be compared with predictions and with the observations of others. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4I01Related
Observations can be used to pose questions and make predictions to guide an investigation. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4H02Related
Science knowledge, and the processes used to develop it, are used to meet a need or to solve a problem that directly affects people's lives. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6H02Related
Scientific knowledge, skills and data can be used by individuals and communities to identify problems, consider responses and make decisions. View on VCAA ↗
6 programs in this group
Physical Sciences
How Objects Move
Students roll differently shaped objects, race a balloon-powered car, drop parachutes, launch foam pump rockets, and test what sinks or floats, exploring how pushes and pulls drive every outcome.
Physical Sciences
Light & Sound
Students sort materials as transparent, translucent or opaque, feel vibrations with tuning forks, build a box guitar to explore pitch, and create shadows with a torch.
Physical Sciences
Force & Motion
Students measure forces with a spring balance, test friction across surfaces, feel inertia first-hand, launch reaction rockets, and explore magnetism and static electricity.
Physical Sciences
Heat & Energy
Students investigate how heat moves by observing particle movement, comparing conduction through plastic and metal using an infrared thermometer, and testing how insulators slow heat transfer.
Physical Sciences
Electricity
Students build working circuits, classify conductors and insulators, compare series and parallel configurations, and investigate how different energy sources, including hand-powered generators, produce electricity.
Physical Sciences
Light
Students investigate reflection, refraction and diffraction using mirrors, lenses and diffraction gratings, with laser beam demonstrations bringing the physics of light into sharp, visible focus.
Common questions
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Get a quote for Physical Sciences incursions
Tell us your year levels and the term you're planning for. We'll confirm availability and send a quote — no per-student fees, no surprises.
Limited dates each term — one facilitator, one school per day.