Optional Science start, 20–35 planning minutes; split or pause under the usual timetable. Select one route. Physical outcomes remain open.
Child invitation · Follow the pieces
Choose a known whole or prepared pieces. Follow the source label. Count the large pieces. Tell what changed and what material they came from.
You may stop, watch, point, speak, sign, draw or direct a familiar adult. Choose the question, label, arrangement or way to show your finding.
Teacher purpose and setup
Explore breaking into a few large pieces while tracing the same material; distinguish piece count from making a different material.
Selected components: AC9S2U03, AC9S2I02, AC9S2I03, AC9S2I04, AC9S2I06; whole-year attainment is not claimed.
Large clean smooth paper/card pieces, known source, tray and pencil; adult rehearses a safe tear into two large pieces. No crushing, powders, food, glass, brittle plastic, sharp tools or small fragments. If card resists, stop and use adult-prepared large pieces with known provenance; preparation is an adult action.
Sequence
Predict the form after one safe tear; record the original whole and action; count the resulting large pieces without losing their origin. Compare a separately source-labelled cloth piece so visual similarity is not the sole identity test. Retain all pieces on the tray and make a source-labelled whole/pieces record. Suggested 25–30 minutes.
Route 1 · Own physical investigation
The learner chooses a locally approved large paper/card piece, predicts the result of one tear and performs it only if it can be done comfortably without sharp tools. They retain and count the large pieces and show that they came from the known original. If it will not tear, stop and record that observation; taking adult-prepared pieces does not become a child tearing claim.
Route 2 · Learner directs; adult operates
The learner indicates an agreed safe tear and asks the adult to make it over the tray, or chooses from large pieces already prepared with a documented common origin. They arrange or point to the pieces, count them and communicate what changed. Record the adult's tearing or preparation; the learner may have observed an actual action, or only interpreted its supplied provenance.
Route 3 · Provided source reasoning
Use the complete ordinary literal source for this route; reading its words or making the described large outlines is a full no-print alternative.
Give original labelled drawings of one large card and the two pieces that a fictional adult tore from it. The learner links both pieces back to the whole and distinguishes the separate known cloth item. Use spoken source labels or large movable drawings as needed. The two-piece model supports classification and explanation; it does not provide a real material-breaking observation.
First noticing and next teaching
Child traces large pieces to their known whole, names a physical action and distinguishes material identity from number/size/colour. An unsuccessful safe tear is recorded honestly; no required break result or equal-part claim.
If two pieces are called two new materials, connect each to the starting source label. If colour alone controls the sorting, contrast same-colour items with different known provenance. If the action was only reported, keep the evidence label supplied provenance.
Retain first evidence before scientific feedback. Unused rechecks are named only in the separate staff key, not ordinary practice. Record learner decision, actual operator, evidence/source and neutral versus scientific support.
Preparation and evidence guidance · Child choices · Ordinary paper alternatives
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