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Science · Investigate · Unit 7Inquiry pathways

Energy in Action

Heat, forces, and circuits · school energy audit with real measurements

Elastic band cars · LEGO Technic · multimeters · low-voltage circuits

How does energy move through heat, forces, and circuits — and can you design motion you can measure fairly?

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Physical World · Energy

Can your elastic car travel the same distance every time — and what will your multimeter prove about circuits that definitions alone cannot?

Energy moves through heat, forces, friction, elastic storage, and circuits you can measure. Term 3 starts with the elastic band car fair-test challenge; the full unit adds multimeter work and an optional school energy audit.

First step

Term 3 fast start: three fair elastic-car runs with one variable changed; or classify heat transfer before your multimeter work.

Expected outcome

Precision motion report with LEGO iteration, or school energy proposal grounded in circuit measurements.

Local place context

Name the energy transfer system you are testing (device, organism, or landscape feature).

See what to do, step by step →STEM Investigate pathways →STEM MakerSpace builds →Community

What to do, in order

Your steps for this unit

Work through one step at a time. Your teacher releases the next step when the class is ready — the overview above is always available so you know where the unit is heading.

Step 1 of 7 available now

  1. Warm-up quiz· Lesson 1

    VentureYour step

  2. Learn energy & motion· Lessons 1–2

    Venture

  3. Elastic car fair tests· Lessons 3–5

    ObserveLocked

    Your teacher will unlock this when the class finishes step 1.

  4. Forces and friction· Lessons 5–6

    ObserveLocked

    Your teacher will unlock this when the class finishes step 1.

  5. Circuits and multimeter· Lessons 6–7

    InferLocked

    Your teacher will unlock this when the class finishes step 1.

  6. LEGO FORGE iteration· Lessons 7–8

    CreateLocked

    Your teacher will unlock this when the class finishes step 1.

  7. Proposal and look-back· Lessons 9–10

    EvaluateLocked

    Your teacher will unlock this when the class finishes step 1.

How you think

VOICE across 7–8 lessons across one term (Year B baseline)

VOICE = thinking phases · Sequence above = what to do · Tabs = where materials live

Warm-up captures heat-rise and electricity-used-up misconceptions. Look-back pairs Q1–Q4; Q5–Q10 from investigation evidence.

  1. Venture

    Lessons 1–2

    Heat transfer, water density, warm-up quiz

    Materials: Learn · Check

  2. Observe

    Lessons 3–4

    Forces, friction, pressure, tool design

    Materials: Investigate

  3. Infer

    Lessons 4–6

    Series/parallel circuits, current measurements

    Materials: Investigate · Portfolio

  4. Create

    Lessons 6–7

    Ohm's Law graphs, circuit builds

    Materials: Make · Portfolio

  5. Evaluate

    Lessons 8–10

    School audit, proposal, look-back quiz

    Materials: Portfolio · Check

Year
Year 7–8 combined
Audience
Principal or property manager · Board of trustees energy item · Class energy display · Whānau science evening
Equipment
Multimeters, Low-voltage power packs, Bulbs, resistors, wire, Thermometers and insulation samples

Unit pages

Pick your next page

One page at a time — warm-up, reading, tasks, builds, and portfolio. Locked cards unlock when your teacher releases the next class step.

For teachers

Teacher study guide →Inquiry sequence planner & release steps →

Unit materials

Open a tab when your teacher or the sequence above points you there — locked tabs unlock with each new step.

Formative only — no grades. Several post-check questions repeat the warm-up on purpose so you can show how your thinking grew. Your teacher uses the rubric for professional judgement, not a score.

Pre-check · Lesson 1 (before teaching)

Warm-up quiz — 15–20 minutes. No right or wrong answers.

  1. Q1 · Section A

    A student says heat rises so warm air always goes up. Is this true for all ways heat moves? Explain using at least two transfer modes.

  2. Q2 · Section A

    Most solids sink in their own liquid. Ice floats in water. What is different about how water behaves as it freezes?

  3. Q3 · Section A

    A student says electricity gets used up by the time it reaches the bulb. Do you agree? Explain.

  4. Q4 · Section A

    Are voltage and current the same thing? If not, explain the difference in your own words.

  5. Q5 · Section B

    Same force on dough — knife cuts, rolling pin flattens. What is actually different between them?

  6. Q6 · Section B

    One bulb in a circuit — predict brightness when a second identical bulb is added in series, then in parallel.

  7. Q7 · Section B

    A thicker wire always carries more current — always true? What else might matter?

  8. Q8 · Section C

    NZ generates mostly renewable electricity. Does that mean a school using it is automatically efficient?

  9. Q9 · Section C

    What is one thing you are genuinely curious about regarding electricity, forces, or heat?

  10. Q10 · Section C

    How confident are you about heat transfer, forces, pressure, and circuits? One thing you know; one you are unsure about.

Look-back quiz unlocks at step 7 — finish your investigation and portfolio first.
Full teacher guide, unit plan, and assessment notes →

AI mentor (inside your investigation)

Support appears in your investigation workspace — gentle prompts about your context, data, and analysis. Your teacher can turn assistance off for unassisted checkpoints.

Three ways to engage with this topic

They share a theme but serve different purposes — your class unit is structured and teacher-guided; community platforms are open; class insights are patterns from other school groups.

Your class inquiry world

Teacher-guided VOICE sequence, portfolio artefacts, datasets, and step-by-step release — consent-gated for your cohort.

Open school unit →

Class insights from other groups

Anonymised patterns from school investigations on this topic — ideas to test in your dataset, not answers to copy.

Browse 2 discoveries →

Try at home · SkyLab

Same fair-test habit as your elastic car at school: three throws, one change, average the result — not one lucky flight.

Open platform:
Paper glider flights with fair-test notes
School unit:
Elastic cars, forces, friction, and energy transfer in class investigations
Contribute without a class code →Setup guideAbout SkyLab
Explore all open community science platforms →
What you will investigate
You will design a simple elastic-band-powered car and test how one change at a time affects how far it travels.
What you will collect
Date and time, Variable setting
What you might make or share
A printed wheel spacer, a small graph story
Start this study →

Ten STEM inquiry worlds with dual angles: scientific investigation and makerspace builds on the same curriculum context.