Year 4 Science – Term 2 (WA Curriculum): Material Properties and Their Uses

What this unit covers

In Term 2, Year 4 Science in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Material Properties and Their Uses”.

Students explore the physical properties of materials and investigate how these properties influence their use in everyday objects and traditional practices.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Investigating Material Properties: Flexibility and Hardness
2. Testing Material Strength and Weight
3. Exploring Absorbency in Different Materials
4. Comparing Physical Properties of Natural and Processed Materials
5. Why We Choose Materials: Investigating Shoes and Their Properties
6. Material Selection for Drink Containers and Food Packaging
7. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Material Use: Tools and Weapons
8. Traditional Materials for Clothing and Shelter: Past and Present

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 2

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 2 runs from Monday 20 April to Friday 3 July — 11 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.