Science Waves, Light & Soundusually ages 8–9

Sound Travels Through Materials

Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to the ear

How to tell they’ve got it

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

Explain that sound vibrations need a material (medium) to travel through — they can't travel in a vacuum
Give examples of sound travelling through different media: air, water, solid objects
Describe how a string telephone works: voice vibrates the cup, vibrations travel along the string to the other cup

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Try this together

Can your child explain why you can hear someone talking through a wall, and why sound travels through water when you're swimming underwater?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Light & Sound Vocabularyages 6–8Describing vibrations travelling through a medium requires vibration vocabulary

Vibrations & Soundages 6–9Must know sound comes from vibrations before learning vibrations travel through media

Sound Travels Through Materialsthis skill · ages 8–9

Unlocks

Sound Fading with Distanceages 8–9Must know sound travels through media before understanding it fades with distance

Waves & How They Moveages 9–10Must understand sound travels through media before modelling wave properties

How Sound Waves Travelages 11–12Sound as a pressure wave extends the understanding that vibrations travel through media

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

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

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S2U02medium confidenceYear 2 · Science understanding

explore different actions to make sounds and how to make a variety of sounds, and recognise that sound energy causes objects to vibrate

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S2U12medium confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science Understanding strand

VC2TDE6C01low confidenceDesign and Technologies · Levels 5 and 6 · Technologies Contexts 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

Pitch of Soundsages 8–9 Sound Fading with Distanceages 8–9 Volume & Vibrationsages 8–9 How Shadows Formages 7–8

All Waves, Light & Sound skills →