Year 3 Science – Term 4 (WA Curriculum): Energy in Motion - Transfer and Transformation

What this unit covers

In Term 4, Year 3 Science in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Energy in Motion - Transfer and Transformation”.

Students explore how energy moves between objects and changes form through hands-on investigations, developing scientific inquiry skills while learning about energy transfer and transformation.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. What is Energy and How Does it Move Around Us?
2. Investigating Heat Transfer - From Hot to Cold
3. Planning Fair Tests to Measure Energy Changes
4. Measuring Temperature Changes with Thermometers
5. Creating Graphs to Show Our Energy Data
6. Comparing Our Results - Were Our Tests Fair?
7. Using Scientific Words to Explain Energy Movement
8. Solving Problems Using What We Know About Energy

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 4

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 4 runs from Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December — 10 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.