PSLE Science Sketch Notes - Themes

THEME DIVERSITY

• Characteristics of Living Things
  • Living things move by themselves.
  • Living things can grow.
  • Living things need air, food, and water to survive.
  • Living things respond to changes in the environment.
  • Living things can reproduce.
• Classification of Animals
  • Mammals: Bodies covered with hair, breathe through lungs, reproduce by giving birth (except spiny anteaters and duck-billed platypuses), produce milk, and mostly live on land.
  • Fish: Bodies covered with scales, breathe through gills, reproduce by laying eggs (except Mollies, Guppies, Swordtails), have fins for swimming, and live in freshwater or the sea.
  • Reptiles: Bodies covered with scales, breathe through lungs, and reproduce by laying leathery-shelled eggs (e.g., turtles, crocodiles, snakes, lizards).
  • Amphibians: Bodies covered with moist skin, young breathe through gills and adults through lungs or moist skin, reproduce by laying eggs (e.g., frogs, salamanders, newts).
  • Birds: Bodies covered with feathers, breathe through lungs, reproduce by laying eggs, have wings and legs, beaks for feeding, and most can fly (except penguins, emus, kiwis, ostriches).
  • Insects: Have hard body covering (exoskeleton), breathe through spiracles, reproduce by laying eggs, most can fly, have 3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), and 6 segmented legs.
• Classification of Plants
  • Flowering vs. Non-flowering
  • Land vs. Water
  • Strong vs. Weak stem
  • Roots: Underground vs. Above ground
  • Leaf-vein pattern: Network vs. Parallel
  • Leaf shape: Round, Oval, Heart shaped
  • Flowers: Singly vs. Cluster
  • Leaf edge: Entire, Lobed, Toothed
  • Fruit: Few seeds, one seed, many seeds
  • Fruit skin: Rough vs. smooth
• Fungi
  • Reproduce by spores.
  • Do not contain chlorophyll and cannot make their own food.
  • Grow in damp, warm, and dark places.
  • Live and feed on dead or alive organisms.
  • Useful: Edible mushrooms, yeast for beer/bread, fertilizer.
  • Harmful: Poisonous mushrooms, food poisoning, damage to leather, ringworm, athlete's foot.
  • Provide ingredients for penicillin (antibiotic).
• Bacteria
  • Micro-organisms found everywhere.
  • Small and seen under a microscope.
  • Different shapes.
  • Most cannot make their own food, feed on living or dead things.
  • Decomposition: Break down dead matter.
  • Useful: Yogurt (Lactobacillus), cheese, clean up oil spills, fertilizer.
  • Harmful: Sickness and disease (Salmonella, E-coli), cause food to turn bad.
• Properties of Materials
  • Ability to float or sink: Float or sink in water.
  • Absorbency: Absorbent or waterproof.
  • Flexibility: Flexible or stiff.
  • Strength: Strong or weak.
  • Degree of Transparency: Transparent, translucent, or opaque.
• Types of Materials
  • Wood: Natural, from tree trunks, strong, mostly floats.
  • Metal: Comes from the ground, man-made, strong, good conductor of heat/electricity.
  • Glass: Man-made from sand, brittle, mostly transparent.
  • Ceramic: Man-made from clay, brittle.
  • Plastic: Man-made from crude oil, waterproof, poor conductor of heat/electricity.
  • Rubber: Natural from latex, flexible, waterproof.
  • Fabric: Natural or Man-made materials, animals or plants (wool, silk, cotton).

THEME CYCLES

• Life Cycle
  • Chicken: Egg, chick, adult
  • Frog: Egg, tadpole, adult
  • Cockroach: Egg case, nymph, adult
  • Grasshopper/Dragonfly: Egg, nymph, adult
  • Housefly/Butterfly: Egg, larva (maggot/caterpillar), pupa, adult
  • Mealworm Beetle: Egg, larva (mealworm), pupa, adult
  • Mosquito: Egg, larva (wriggler), pupa, adult
  • Wasp/Ladybug: Egg, larva, pupa, adult
• Descriptions of Larva, Pupa and Nymph
  • Larva: Does not resemble the adult, eats a lot, moults.
  • Pupa: Does not resemble the adult, does not feed or move.
  • Nymph: Resembles the adult (smaller and wingless), moults.
• Matter and Its Three States
  • Matter has mass and occupies space.
  • Solid: Definite shape and volume, cannot be compressed.
  • Liquid: No definite shape, definite volume, cannot be compressed.
  • Gas: No definite shape or volume, can be compressed.
• Reproduction in Plants
  • Flower Parts:
    • Anther: Produces pollen grains.
    • Filament: Supports anther.
    • Petal: Attracts pollinators.
    • Stigma: Receives pollen grains.
    • Style: Connects stigma to ovary.
    • Ovary: Protects ovule, develops into fruit.
    • Ovule: Develops into seed.
  • Processes: Germination, pollination, fertilization, seed dispersal.
• Pollination
  • Transfer of pollen from anther to stigma.
    • Animal Pollination: Large, brightly-colored and scented.
    • Wind Pollination: Small and dull-colored with no scent.
• Fertilization
  • Fusion of male and female reproductive cells.
  • Ovules develop into seeds, ovary becomes a fruit.
• Seed Dispersal
  • Prevents overcrowding, reduces competition.
  • Methods: Wind, water, splitting action, animals.
• Reproduction in Humans
  • Male Reproductive Organs: Testis (produces sperm), Penis (transfers sperm).
  • Female Reproductive Organs: Ovary (produces eggs), Fallopian tube (fertilization), Womb/Uterus (site where fertilised eggs develop), Vagina (Receives sperm).
• Heredity
  • Passing on characteristics from parents to young.
  • Living things reproduce to ensure the continuity of their own kind.
• Water and Its States
  • Solid (ice), Liquid (water), Gas (steam)
  • Melting: Solid to liquid
  • Boiling/Evaporation: Liquid to gas
  • Freezing: Liquid to solid
  • Condensation: Gas to liquid
  • Factors affecting evaporation: Wind, exposed surface area, temperature
• Water Cycle
  • Evaporation: Water gains heat and becomes water vapor.
  • Condensation: Water vapor loses heat and becomes water droplets (clouds).
  • The water droplets become rain.
• Cooling Effects of Evaporation
• Condensation in Everyday Life

THEME SYSTEMS

• Lower Block Systems
  • The Human Body System
  • Human Digestive System
  • Plant System
• Upper Block Systems
  • Plant Transport System
  • Human Respiratory System
  • Human Circulatory System
  • Cell System
  • The Electrical System
• The Human Body Systems
  • Respiratory System: Takes in oxygen, removes carbon dioxide (nose, windpipe, air tubes and lungs)
  • Muscular System: Works with the skeletal system for movement
  • Circulatory System: Carries digested food, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and waste materials (heart, blood and blood vessels)
  • Skeletal System: Supports the body and protects organs (skull, ribcage)
  • Digestive System: Breaks down food (mouth, gullet, stomach, small and large intestine, anus)
• Human Digestive System
  • Mouth: Contains saliva and teeth
  • Gullet: Pushes food to the stomach
  • Stomach: Contains digestive juices
  • Small Intestine: Most digestion and absorption takes place
  • Large Intestine: Absorbs water and mineral salts
  • Anus: Passes out waste material
• Plant System
  • Plant Parts and Their Functions (Flowering Plants vs Non-Flowering Plants)
    • Roots: Anchors the plant, absorbs water and minerals.
    • Stem: Supports the plant and transports substances.
    • Leaves: Make food (photosynthesis).
    • Flowers: Reproduction (for flowering plants).
    • Fruits: Protect the seeds (for flowering plants).
• Plant Transportation
  • Water-carrying (Xylem) transports water and mineral salts to roots.
  • Food-carrying tubes (Phloem) transport food from the green leaves to all parts of the plants.
• Respiratory System
  • Windpipe: Transports air from the nose to the air tubes.
  • Lungs: Contain air sacs.
  • Ribcage: Protects heart and lungs
  • Diaphragm: Contracts and relaxes to draw air in and out of the lungs.
  • Air Sacs: lined with tiny blood vessels
  • Nose: Allows air to enter and leave the body. Traps dust and warm air
  • Air Tubes: Transport air to the lungs
• Circulatory System
  • Components: Heart, blood vessels, and blood.
    • Heart: pumps blood throughout the body
    • Blood: Transport system in the body (Red/White Blood Cells, Platelets, Plasma.)
    • Artery Carries blood from the heart
    • Capillaries- Allow oxygen exchange into the veins
    • Vein- Transport the blood to the heart from organs
• Respiratory and Circulatory Systems work together: Gas exchange in air sacs for respiration
• Digestive and Circulatory Stem work together: Digestion of food for energy.
• Compare the circulatory system of a human and a fish: Human (lungs) vs. Fish (gills)
• Cell Systems
  • Animal Cell: Contains nucleus, cell membrane, and Cytoplasm
  • Plant Cell: Contains nucleus, cell membrane, Cytoplasm, cell wall, chloroplast, and vacuole
• The Electrical System
  • An electric circuit consisting of electric current (battery) and other components (wire, bulb, switch)
  • Forms of a circuit: Open or closed.
  • Component of a circuit: Batteries, wires, bulbs and a switch.
  • Electrial conductors and insulators.
  • Electric circuit layout rules (series/parallel layouts)

THEME INTERACTIONS

• Magnet
  • Material that attracts or repels other materials
  • Artifical and natural magnets.
  • Properties of magnets (North and south poles).
• Forces
  • Gravitional Force
  • Frictional Force
  • Elastic Spring Force
  • Magnetic Force
• The Environment
  • Physical Characteristics ( ex. Temperature, amount of water, air, and light)
• Living Together
  • A Population and its Characteristics
• What is a Community?
  • Various populations living together in a habitiat.
• Food Chains and Food Webs
  • Prey and Predators Relationship
• Man's Impact On the Environment
  • Deforestation
  • Pollution (Various Pollution Sources).
• Adaptations
  • Structural - ex. Jerboa long hind legs
  • Behavioural - ex. Red squirrels huddle together
  • Adaptations of plants and animals.

THEME ENERGY

• Light Energy
  • Sources of Light (natural vs man-made sources).
  • Properties of Light
  • Shadows and Shapes.
• Heat Energy
  • Properties of heat and measurements
  • Sources and Temperatures (man vs natural).
  • Properties of Heat
  • Applications of expansion and Contraction.
  • Heat transfer affected by
    • Conductors that lead to faster transfers of energy
• Photosynthesis
  • Process plants utilize and relationship to sugar and chlorophyll
• Respiration
  • Process for brreaking down food substances in the presence of of oxygen to release energy.
• Energy Sources
  • Renewable VS Non-Renewable resources
• Forms and Conversion of Energy *Types of forms *Electrical, sound, light, heat, KE, gravitational PE and chemicals
  • Relationship between forms
    *Conversion of energy process.