Light Travels in Straight Lines
Your child knows light travels in straight lines. That is why a shadow has the same shape as the object. Light cannot bend round it, so it leaves a dark outline.
In curriculum terms
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
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.
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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
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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 · 1 VIC
Australian Curriculum v9 candidate
Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only
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.