How can you tell they’ve got it: How energy travels around?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Give at least one example of energy transfer by each: sound, light, heat, electric current; Explain that energy moves from a source to a destination through these means; Describe how electric currents transfer energy from a battery to a bulb through wires. Or just try it together: Can your child give examples of how energy moves around — like heat from a radiator warming a room, light from a lamp reaching your eyes, or electricity flowing through a wire?

Science Energy Ages 9–10

How energy travels around

Your child knows energy can move from place to place. Heat spreads from a radiator, light travels from a lamp to your eyes, and electricity flows along a wire.

In curriculum terms

Observe and provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Give at least one example of energy transfer by each: sound, light, heat, electric current
Explain that energy moves from a source to a destination through these means
Describe how electric currents transfer energy from a battery to a bulb through wires

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Try this together

Can your child give examples of how energy moves around — like heat from a radiator warming a room, light from a lamp reaching your eyes, or electricity flowing through a wire?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Naming types of energyages 7–9Describing energy transfer by sound, light, heat, and electric current requires energy type vocabulary

Building a simple circuitages 8–9Must know circuits before understanding energy transfer by electric current

Light & Seeing in the Darkages 6–8Light knowledge supports understanding energy transfer by light

Vibrations & Soundages 6–9Sound knowledge supports understanding energy transfer by sound

How energy travels aroundthis skill · ages 9–10

Unlocks

Building an energy-converting deviceages 9–10Must understand energy transfer forms before designing an energy conversion device

Natural resourcesages 9–10Must understand energy transfer before learning about natural resources as energy sources

Energy stores and transfersages 11–12KS3 energy stores model extends KS2 US observation that energy is transferred by sound, light, heat and electric currents

More batteries, brighter bulbages 10–11Energy transfer concept supports understanding voltage as energy per charge

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S3U03medium confidenceYear 3 · Science understanding

identify sources of heat energy and examine how temperature changes when heat energy is transferred from one object to another

AC9S6U03low confidenceYear 6 · Science understanding

investigate the transfer and transformation of energy in electrical circuits, including the role of circuit components, insulators and conductors

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ST2-PQU-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 2

ST2-SCI-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 2

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2TDE6C01high confidenceDesign and Technologies · Levels 5 and 6 · Technologies Contexts strand

VC2S4U09low confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S6U08low confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Building an energy-converting deviceages 9–10 Circuit vocabularyages 9–11 Reading and drawing circuit diagramsages 9–10 Speed and energyages 9–10

All Energy skills →