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Sort by properties

EnglishGrade 2ScienceFree

Sort sample records, connect tests to properties, and explain your evidence.

What it is about

Classify materials using observable properties from a supplied test.

Grade 2 · 7–8 years · 30 challenges

Before you begin

  • Grade1 structure/function, observations and evidence-based design.

What the class will do

  1. Sort into groups · 10 challenges

    Sort the observations

    Use each sample record. Think together, then put it in a group. Pictures are not test evidence.

  2. Match pairs · 10 challenges

    Connect property and evidence

    Make visible pairs. Use only the observations on the cards; each partner is used once.

  3. Choose and explain · 10 challenges

    Explain the grouping

    Predict and discuss together. Choose the answer supported by this question’s evidence.

Using it in class

Use 5 challenges for a short round or one 10-challenge block. Before a rotating representative acts, everyone predicts and discusses the rule. Records are supplied examples, not real experiments. Plan 30–45 minutes for all 30; split across sessions as needed.

Give everyone time to think and discuss before one pupil acts at the board. The class explains and confirms together; hints and explanations stay until you move on.

Use an up-to-date browser on a computer connected to a whiteboard or shared display. Touch, mouse and keyboard; optional audio and reduced motion. No pupil accounts or personal devices.

Choose from 5 challenges up to the full activity. Discussion determines the duration: you set the pace.

A look inside the activities

Sort into groups

Sort these sample records by texture. Use what the fingers felt.

  • Tile: a finger glides over it
  • Bark: a finger feels ridges
  • Foil: a finger feels no bumps

Groups: Smooth · Rough

Explanation and discussion

The tile and foil have smooth surfaces in these records. The bark has ridges, so it belongs in the rough group.

Could two objects have different colors but the same texture?

Match pairs

Connect each observation to the property it tells us about.

  • The surface feels bumpy
  • The strip curves without breaking
  • The sample looks green

Match with:

  • Flexibility
  • Color
  • Texture
Explanation and discussion

Feeling bumps gives texture evidence. Bending gives flexibility evidence. Looking green gives color evidence. None of these observations measures every property.

Which of these observations needs touch rather than sight alone?

Choose and explain

A strip is red and bends. The rule is flexible or rigid. Where does it belong?

  • Rigid, because it is red
  • Neither, because it has two properties
  • Flexible, because it bends
Explanation and discussion

The bending result supports flexible. Red is a color; it does not decide flexibility. A sample can have several properties and still fit this rule.

What new rule would make red useful evidence?

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