STE for 5th Class

Curriculum Mapping Student Devices
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This course delivers a comprehensive STE programme for primary pupils, integrating human biology, materials science, forces, energy, digital systems and engineering design. Pupils investigate body systems and nutrition through practical experiments, conduct fair tests on materials and forces, explore coding and computational thinking in Scratch, and apply the full design process to engineer solutions for real school problems. Its distinctive emphasis on hands-on Irish-context investigations and sustainability builds scientific enquiry, creativity and problem-solving skills.
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Pupils move from the human body and how its systems work as a team, through nutrition and food labels, to the start of classifying living things with branching keys. The course opens here, setting the year's STEM-eyes tone, and this is where pupils first turn 'I wonder' into a testable question and run their first measured investigation.

The Human Body as a Team of Systems
The Systems of the Human Body Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Heart and Lungs: How the Body Responds to Exercise Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Digestive System: the Journey of Food Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Skeleton and Muscles: How We Move
Nutrition and Healthy Choices
Nutrition: the Value in Everyday Irish Foods
Nutrition: Reading the Label
Nutrition: Fresh, Whole Foods or Ultra-processed?
Classifying Living Things
Classifying Irish Wildlife

From the properties that make a material right for a job, through natural versus manufactured, the idea that everything (even air) has mass, and states of matter, to dissolving and a first look at sustainability. This is where the planning-a-fair-test skill is first taught in full.

Properties and Fair Testing
Choosing the Right Material for the Job
Testing a Property Fairly: Which Is the Most Absorbent?
What Materials Are Made of
Natural or Manufactured?
Everything Has Mass, Even Air
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Changing Materials and Sustainability
Dissolving: What Dissolves in Water?
Materials and Sustainability

Investigating everyday forces (push, pull, friction, gravity), simple machines, magnetism, and light and sound, connecting Energy and Forces to the wider field of Physics. The measuring-with-care skill is taught in full inside the friction fair test.

Forces and Simple Machines
Forces: Push, Pull, Friction and Gravity
Friction Fair Test: Which Surface Slows a Car Most?
Simple Machines: Levers and Ramps
Magnetism, Light and Sound
Magnets and Magnetism
Light: Sources, Reflection and How We See
Light: Shadows and How They Change
Sound: Vibrations, Pitch and Volume

From how digital systems work (inputs, processes, outputs), through computational thinking, to a first run of real coding in Scratch. Pupils write, run and debug real Scratch programs, each paired with the STE shape: a hands-on activity, the Investigation Journal beat, and Irish context.

How Digital Systems Work
Digital Systems: Inputs, Processes, Outputs
Inside One Digital System: a Closer Look
Computational Thinking and Coding in Scratch
Computational Thinking Unplugged
Coding Sequences and Debugging in Scratch
Scratch: Loops and Events
Technology in Irish Life
Technology in Irish Life: Digital Systems Around Us

Build the foundations of the Stage 4 design process: consider user needs, sketch plans, build and test prototypes, and iterate, through structures and material choice, ending in a two-lesson design-build project on a real local problem. This is 5th Class's first taste of a multi-lesson project arc.

Designing for the User
The Design Process
Sketching and Communicating a Design
Structures and Materials
Structures: Strong and Stable
Structures: Bridges and Load
Choosing Materials for a Build
Design-build Project: Solve a Local Problem
A Local Problem: Define and Design
Build the Prototype
Test, Improve and Present

Pupils move from the human body and how its systems work as a team, through nutrition and food labels, to the start of classifying living things with branching keys. The course opens here, setting the year's STEM-eyes tone, and this is where pupils first turn 'I wonder' into a testable question and run their first measured investigation.

The Human Body as a Team of Systems
The Systems of the Human Body Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Heart and Lungs: How the Body Responds to Exercise Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Digestive System: the Journey of Food Investigation Journal Teacher Resources
The Skeleton and Muscles: How We Move
Nutrition and Healthy Choices
Nutrition: the Value in Everyday Irish Foods
Nutrition: Reading the Label
Nutrition: Fresh, Whole Foods or Ultra-processed?
Classifying Living Things
Classifying Irish Wildlife

From the properties that make a material right for a job, through natural versus manufactured, the idea that everything (even air) has mass, and states of matter, to dissolving and a first look at sustainability. This is where the planning-a-fair-test skill is first taught in full.

Properties and Fair Testing
Choosing the Right Material for the Job
Testing a Property Fairly: Which Is the Most Absorbent?
What Materials Are Made of
Natural or Manufactured?
Everything Has Mass, Even Air
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Changing Materials and Sustainability
Dissolving: What Dissolves in Water?
Materials and Sustainability

Investigating everyday forces (push, pull, friction, gravity), simple machines, magnetism, and light and sound, connecting Energy and Forces to the wider field of Physics. The measuring-with-care skill is taught in full inside the friction fair test.

Forces and Simple Machines
Forces: Push, Pull, Friction and Gravity
Friction Fair Test: Which Surface Slows a Car Most?
Simple Machines: Levers and Ramps
Magnetism, Light and Sound
Magnets and Magnetism
Light: Sources, Reflection and How We See
Light: Shadows and How They Change
Sound: Vibrations, Pitch and Volume

From how digital systems work (inputs, processes, outputs), through computational thinking, to a first run of real coding in Scratch. Pupils write, run and debug real Scratch programs, each paired with the STE shape: a hands-on activity, the Investigation Journal beat, and Irish context.

How Digital Systems Work
Digital Systems: Inputs, Processes, Outputs
Inside One Digital System: a Closer Look
Computational Thinking and Coding in Scratch
Computational Thinking Unplugged
Coding Sequences and Debugging in Scratch
Scratch: Loops and Events
Technology in Irish Life
Technology in Irish Life: Digital Systems Around Us

Build the foundations of the Stage 4 design process: consider user needs, sketch plans, build and test prototypes, and iterate, through structures and material choice, ending in a two-lesson design-build project on a real local problem. This is 5th Class's first taste of a multi-lesson project arc.

Designing for the User
The Design Process
Sketching and Communicating a Design
Structures and Materials
Structures: Strong and Stable
Structures: Bridges and Load
Choosing Materials for a Build
Design-build Project: Solve a Local Problem
A Local Problem: Define and Design
Build the Prototype
Test, Improve and Present

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA STE Education Specification (2025)
Curriculum Area
Outcomes
Nature of STEM
S1.4.1
Living things
S2.4.1 S2.4.2 S2.4.3
Materials
S3.4.1 S3.4.2 S3.4.3
Energy and forces
S4.4.1 S4.4.2 S4.4.3
Technology
S5.4.1 S5.4.2 S5.4.3
Engineering
S6.4.1

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Understand how the major human body systems work together to support life and respond to physical activity
  2. Develop skills in classifying living things using branching keys and recognise characteristics of Irish wildlife
  3. Investigate properties of materials through fair testing and understand how materials can be changed, chosen, or used sustainably
  4. Explain how forces, magnetism, light and sound behave and apply this knowledge through practical investigations and fair tests
  5. Apply computational thinking, understand inputs-processes-outputs in digital systems, and use block-based coding to create and debug programs
  6. Follow the full engineering design process to research a local problem, sketch, build, test and improve a prototype structure or device

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify and describe the five main human body systems (breathing, circulation, digestion, movement, control) and explain how they work together.
  2. Measure and record how heart rate and breathing rate change before and after exercise, then explain the results.
  3. Sort Irish foods into the correct food groups, read nutrition labels to compare sugar and salt content, and design a balanced lunchbox.
  4. Use a branching key to classify Irish plants and animals, and construct a simple yes/no identification key.
  5. Carry out fair tests to compare material properties such as absorbency, strength, friction, and dissolving time, identifying which variable is changed.
  6. Distinguish between natural and manufactured materials, and between solids, liquids and gases, describing their different behaviours.
  7. Sort classroom waste by recyclability and design one practical reduce or reuse action for school.
  8. Explain how forces (push, pull, friction, gravity) affect objects and demonstrate how levers and ramps reduce the effort needed to move a load.
  9. Classify materials as magnetic or non-magnetic, test magnet strength, and investigate how light reflection and torch height affect shadow size.
  10. Map everyday Irish digital systems (such as Leap card or self-checkout) into inputs, processes and outputs.
  11. Write, run and debug simple Scratch programs that use sequences, loops and events to control a sprite.
  12. Follow the full design process to define a real school problem, sketch annotated designs, build a prototype structure or device, test it, make an improvement and present the final solution.

What You'll Need

Required Equipment

Equipment used in some of the lessons in this course. Items can be shared among students.

IWB/Projector/Large Screen
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

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