Science Waves, Light & Soundusually ages 10–11

Light Travels in Straight Lines

Recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines and use this to explain how we see objects and why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them

How to tell they’ve got it

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

State and demonstrate that light travels in straight lines (e.g. can't see around corners, laser pointer)
Use straight-line light to explain why shadows have the same outline shape as the object
Draw ray diagrams showing light travelling from source, being blocked by object, creating shadow on screen

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Try this together

Can your child explain why a shadow of a hand looks like a hand shape, using the idea that light travels in straight lines?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

How Shadows Formages 7–8Must understand shadows before formalising that light travels in straight lines to explain shadows

How We See Objectsages 9–11Must understand reflection-to-eye model before using straight-line light to explain how we see

Wave Behaviour Vocabularyages 9–11Explaining shadows and sight using straight-line light travel requires reflection/absorption vocabulary

Light Travels in Straight Linesthis skill · ages 10–11

Unlocks

Reflection & Refractionages 11–12Reflection and refraction build directly on understanding that light travels in straight lines and casts shadows

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1).

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S6U08medium 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

How Sound Waves Travelages 11–12 How We See Objectsages 9–11 Patterns & Codes for Informationages 9–10 Reflection & Refractionages 11–12

All Waves, Light & Sound skills →