Students build the particle model's four key ideas (particles, space, motion, attraction) and match particle diagrams to solids, liquids and gases (AC9S7U05, node 1, a hinge node).
Load these into Waypoints Prepare: choose Load URL and paste the copied address, or download the file and import it. In Prepare, the worksheet's Teacher edition shows the answers; the student copy hides them.
SlidesDownload Present from the browser, or export to PowerPoint or PDF.
WorksheetDownload Print the student copy; the Teacher edition has the answers.
Students will be able to
I can state the four key ideas of particle theory.
I can match a particle diagram to a solid, a liquid or a gas.
I can describe how arrangement and motion differ between the three states.
Timing
Engage and Explore 7 min · Explain 6 min · Practise 5 min · Evaluate 3 min · Typical and Wider add about 10 min
Before class
This is a concept tutorial for introducing the model or revising it, not a replacement for the practical. Run it before hands-on work with states (melting ice, a sealed syringe of air). Set the width in the link you share: ?width=minimum, ?width=typical (the default) or ?width=wider. Students can widen but not narrow.
The node's response mode is consolidation, so the Practise step (six correct identifications, with feedback naming the particle feature each time) is part of the minimum path.
Running the lesson
Engage: students lock in a prediction before the zoom lens opens. Ask who chose 'particles floating in water' and why; it is the most common answer.
Explore: insist they watch the ice for a few seconds. 'Frozen still' is the misconception the second Explain question targets.
Explain: the four key ideas are the hinge. Have students say them aloud in order: particles, space, motion, attraction.
Practise: six correct, not six in a row. Listen for students naming a feature, not just a state.
Evaluate: the 'At first I thought… Now I think…' sentence is worth collecting as an exit card.
The hard part (on purpose)
Accepting empty space between particles, with nothing in it. When a student puts air between the particles, ask what air is made of.
When students get stuck
What you will see
A question to ask
The fix
A student says there is air between the particles.
What is air made of?
Air is particles too. Between any particles there is nothing at all: empty space.
A student labels a liquid diagram as a solid because the particles touch.
Is there a pattern? Do the particles stay in place?
Solids and liquids are both close together. The difference is the fixed pattern and the motion.
A student says particles get bigger when heated.
In the zoom lens, did any particle change size between ice and steam?
Particles never change size; the spaces between them do.
Answers to the checks
Engage: zoom into a drop of water: Zoom into a drop of water a billion times. What would you see? Tiny particles with empty space between them, always moving. There is nothing between them, not even air.
Explore: the zoom lens: Look at all three samples: ice, liquid water and steam.
Between the particles: What is between the particles? Nothing: empty space There is nothing between particles, not even air.
Ice: Do the particles in ice ever stop moving? No, they vibrate in place Even in a solid, particles vibrate. They never stop.
Same particles?: Ice, liquid water and steam: are their particles the same? Yes: only the arrangement and motion change All three are made of the same water particles.
The four key ideas: Which statements are part of particle theory? All matter is made of tiny particles. → Part of particle theory; There is empty space between particles. → Part of particle theory; Particles are always moving. → Part of particle theory; Particles attract each other. → Part of particle theory; Particles expand when they are heated. → Not true; There is air between the particles. → Not true; Particles in a solid do not move. → Not true Remember the four key ideas as: particles, space, motion, attraction.
Across the states: Match each state to its particles: arrangement, motion and attraction. Solid → C. Close together in a fixed pattern, vibrating in place, strong attraction; Liquid → A. Close together with no pattern, sliding past each other, weaker attraction; Gas → B. Far apart, moving fast in all directions, very weak attraction The three states differ in the same three ways: arrangement, motion and attraction.
name that state: Name the state of six substances correctly.
Elaborate: explain three things about ice: For each property of ice, choose the particle explanation. Ice keeps its shape on a plate. → Its particles are held in fixed positions by strong attraction; You can't squash an ice cube. → Its particles are packed closely, with very little space between them; An ice cube held in your hand starts to melt. → Its particles vibrate more as they warm, until they break free of their positions Each property comes from one particle feature: arrangement, motion or attraction.
Elaborate: build a state: Build a solid, a liquid and a gas.
What it explains: Does the particle model explain it? Why a gas spreads to fill its container → Explained by the model; Why you can smell perfume from across a room → Explained by the model; Why copper is orange-brown → Not explained; Why solids keep their shape → Explained by the model; What particles themselves are made of → Not explained; Why some substances are poisonous → Not explained The model explains how substances behave, not everything about them.
The evidence: In 1827 the botanist Robert Brown saw tiny grains from pollen jiggling in water under a microscope, in random directions, with nothing stirring the water. In 1905 Albert Einstein explained it with particles. What causes the jiggling? Water particles are always moving and keep bumping into the grains This is Brownian motion: millions of tiny bumps from moving water particles. It was early strong evidence that particles are real and always moving.
Elaborate: designing with materials: Match each design choice to the particle reason. Bike tyres are filled with air, not water. → A gas can be squashed, so it cushions bumps; Car brakes use a liquid in the pipes to push the brake pads. → A liquid hardly squashes, so a push at one end moves the other end straight away; Bridge beams are made of solid steel. → Solid particles are held in fixed positions, so the shape stays under a load
Solutions
One possible solution for each task. Other correct programs are fine.
Elaborate: build a state
Open task: any program that does what the step asks.
Stretch and support
Stretch: Why can't particles that are far apart stay still? Use the Build a state board to argue it.
Support: Give students the four key ideas on a card for the Practise step, and ask them to point to the feature they used each time.
Coach prompt (optional)
For a student who has done the lesson and is still stuck. They paste it into an AI tool your school allows; it asks questions about this lesson's one idea and doesn't give answers. Students see it on the course recap page only through a link ending in ?coach=1: recap with coach prompts.
You are a patient science coach for a Year 7 student in Australia. Help me understand ONE idea only, from the lesson "What is everything made of?".
The idea: Introducing the particle model: I can match particle diagrams to states of matter and state the key ideas of particle theory.
What understanding looks like:
- Matches particle diagrams to correct states of matter
- States the 4 key ideas of particle theory
- Identifies differences in arrangement, motion and attraction across states
Mistakes students often make here:
- A student says there is air between the particles.
- A student labels a liquid diagram as a solid because the particles touch.
- A student says particles get bigger when heated.
How to coach me (rules from the Waypoints Kit coach):
- Ask me one short question at a time (2 to 4 sentences) and wait for my answer. Never give me the answer before you have heard my thinking, and don't hide the answer inside your question.
- Start in Discover: ask me to explain the idea in my own words, or to predict what happens in a simple example. I can switch any time: "teach it back" (you play a beginner and I explain), "spot the flaw" (you show me an answer with one common mistake and I find it), or "check" (I explain, and you tell me what is solid and what to revisit).
- If I am stuck or say "just tell me", ask what I think first, then give a small hint or a simpler example. Explain only after I have had a real go.
- Stay in this idea: don't teach later ideas or add extra content. If I ask about something else, say it is for another lesson and bring me back.
- After you help, ask me one reflective question, such as how I know my answer is right or what I would check.
- Praise my effort and method, not my ability.
- You can be wrong: if I rely on something you said, remind me to check it against my notes or the lesson. If you don't know, say so.
- Use simple words.
- Stop when I can explain the idea in my own words and get one new example right. Then tell me to go back to the lesson "What is everything made of?".
Exit ticket
Name the four key ideas of particle theory.
All matter is made of particles; there is empty space between them; they are always moving; they attract each other.
What each step is for
Engage: zoom into a drop of water: Committing to a picture of matter first exposes the idea that matter is continuous, or that particles float in something.
Explore: the zoom lens: Seeing ice, water and steam as the same particles in different arrangements sets up the whole model.
Explain: what the model says: The four key ideas (particles, space, motion, attraction) are what students must be able to reproduce before they can use diagrams to reason.
name that state: Reliable matching of diagrams to states needs practice with feedback that names the particle feature every time.
Elaborate: explain three things about ice: Explaining properties in particle language is the move from describing the model to using it.
Elaborate: build a state: Spacing and motion go together: building the states from the two features shows why some combinations never happen.
Elaborate: how good is the model?: Every model has limits; Brownian motion is the classic evidence that particles exist and move.
Elaborate: designing with materials: Designers in Design and Technologies choose solids, liquids and gases for exactly these particle reasons.
Where it leads
Next: node 2 uses the diagrams to reason (why gases fill containers, why solids keep their shape). Node 3 explains properties such as compressibility and density.
In class: follow with real samples (an ice cube, water, a sealed syringe of air) and ask students to draw the particle view of each.