STE for 5th Class

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This course offers a comprehensive STE programme for primary pupils, integrating the study of the human body and nutrition, materials and their properties, forces, magnetism, light and sound, digital systems, coding in Scratch, and engineering design. Pupils engage in practical investigations, fair testing, classification, computational thinking, and a sustained design-build project addressing a real local problem. It develops scientific enquiry, creativity and problem-solving across the full breadth of the Irish primary STE curriculum.
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Explore the Course

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Move from the human body and how its systems work together, through nutrition, to the start of classifying living things. The course opens here, setting the year's 'STEM eyes' tone, and is where pupils first turn 'I wonder' into a testable question and run a simple measured investigation.

Body Systems and How They Work Together
The Systems of the Human Body
The Heart and Lungs: How the Body Responds to Exercise
The Digestive System: the Journey of Food
The Skeleton and Muscles: How We Move
Nutrition and the Food We Eat
Nutrition: the Value in Everyday Irish Foods
Nutrition: Reading the Label
Nutrition: Fresh, Whole Foods or Ultra-processed?
Classifying Living Things
Classifying Irish Wildlife

From the properties that make a material right for a job, through natural versus manufactured, 'everything has mass' and states of matter, to dissolving and a first look at sustainability. This module is where planning a fair test in full is first taught, in the absorbency investigation.

Properties and Fair Testing
Choosing the Right Material for the Job
Testing a Property Fairly: Which Is the Most Absorbent?
Matter, States and Mixing
Natural and Manufactured Materials
Everything Has Mass, Even Air
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Dissolving: What Dissolves in Water?
Materials and Sustainability
Materials and Sustainability

Investigate everyday forces, simple machines, magnetism, and light and sound, connecting Energy and forces to the wider field of Physics. The measuring-with-care skill is taught in full inside the friction fair test and revisited across the module.

Forces and Simple Machines
Forces: Push, Pull, Friction and Gravity
Friction Fair Test: Which Surface Slows a Car Most?
Simple Machines: Levers and Ramps
Magnetism, Light and Sound
Magnets and Magnetism
Light: Sources, Reflection and How We See
Light: Shadows and How They Change
Sound: Vibrations, Pitch and Volume

From how digital systems work, through computational thinking, to a first run of real coding in Scratch. Pupils write, run and debug real programs, each paired with the STE shape of a hands-on activity, a paper recording beat and Irish context.

How Digital Systems Work
Digital Systems: Inputs, Processes, Outputs
Inside One Digital System: a Closer Look
Computational Thinking and Coding in Scratch
Computational Thinking Unplugged
Coding Sequences and Debugging in Scratch
Scratch: Loops and Events
Technology in Irish Life
Technology in Irish Life: Digital Systems Around Us

Build the foundations of the Stage 4 design process: consider user needs, sketch plans, build and test prototypes, and iterate, through structures and material choice, ending in a two-lesson design-build project on a real local problem.

Designing for a User
The Design Process
Sketching and Communicating a Design
Building Strong Structures
Structures: Strong and Stable
Structures: Bridges and Load
Choosing Materials for a Build
Design-build Project: Solve a Local Problem
A Local Problem: Define and Design
Design-build: Build the Prototype
Design-build: Test, Improve and Present

Move from the human body and how its systems work together, through nutrition, to the start of classifying living things. The course opens here, setting the year's 'STEM eyes' tone, and is where pupils first turn 'I wonder' into a testable question and run a simple measured investigation.

Body Systems and How They Work Together
The Systems of the Human Body
The Heart and Lungs: How the Body Responds to Exercise
The Digestive System: the Journey of Food
The Skeleton and Muscles: How We Move
Nutrition and the Food We Eat
Nutrition: the Value in Everyday Irish Foods
Nutrition: Reading the Label
Nutrition: Fresh, Whole Foods or Ultra-processed?
Classifying Living Things
Classifying Irish Wildlife

From the properties that make a material right for a job, through natural versus manufactured, 'everything has mass' and states of matter, to dissolving and a first look at sustainability. This module is where planning a fair test in full is first taught, in the absorbency investigation.

Properties and Fair Testing
Choosing the Right Material for the Job
Testing a Property Fairly: Which Is the Most Absorbent?
Matter, States and Mixing
Natural and Manufactured Materials
Everything Has Mass, Even Air
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Dissolving: What Dissolves in Water?
Materials and Sustainability
Materials and Sustainability

Investigate everyday forces, simple machines, magnetism, and light and sound, connecting Energy and forces to the wider field of Physics. The measuring-with-care skill is taught in full inside the friction fair test and revisited across the module.

Forces and Simple Machines
Forces: Push, Pull, Friction and Gravity
Friction Fair Test: Which Surface Slows a Car Most?
Simple Machines: Levers and Ramps
Magnetism, Light and Sound
Magnets and Magnetism
Light: Sources, Reflection and How We See
Light: Shadows and How They Change
Sound: Vibrations, Pitch and Volume

From how digital systems work, through computational thinking, to a first run of real coding in Scratch. Pupils write, run and debug real programs, each paired with the STE shape of a hands-on activity, a paper recording beat and Irish context.

How Digital Systems Work
Digital Systems: Inputs, Processes, Outputs
Inside One Digital System: a Closer Look
Computational Thinking and Coding in Scratch
Computational Thinking Unplugged
Coding Sequences and Debugging in Scratch
Scratch: Loops and Events
Technology in Irish Life
Technology in Irish Life: Digital Systems Around Us

Build the foundations of the Stage 4 design process: consider user needs, sketch plans, build and test prototypes, and iterate, through structures and material choice, ending in a two-lesson design-build project on a real local problem.

Designing for a User
The Design Process
Sketching and Communicating a Design
Building Strong Structures
Structures: Strong and Stable
Structures: Bridges and Load
Choosing Materials for a Build
Design-build Project: Solve a Local Problem
A Local Problem: Define and Design
Design-build: Build the Prototype
Design-build: Test, Improve and Present

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA STE Education Specification (2025)
Curriculum Area
Outcomes
Nature of STEM
S1.4.1
Living things
S2.4.1 S2.4.2 S2.4.3
Materials
S3.4.1 S3.4.2 S3.4.3
Energy and forces
S4.4.1 S4.4.2 S4.4.3
Technology
S5.4.1 S5.4.2 S5.4.3
Engineering
S6.4.1

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Understand how the major human body systems work together to support life, movement, and nutrition
  2. Investigate the properties of materials, carry out fair tests, and explain how materials are chosen for specific purposes
  3. Explore forces, magnetism, light, and sound through practical investigations and fair testing
  4. Develop computational thinking skills and create simple programs in Scratch using sequences, loops, and events
  5. Apply the engineering design process to define problems, sketch solutions, build, test, and improve structures and prototypes

Learning Outcomes

  1. Label the main human body systems on a life-size outline and explain how they work together as a team.
  2. Plan and carry out a fair test to measure how exercise changes pulse and breathing rate, then record and explain the results.
  3. Sort everyday Irish foods into food groups, read nutrition labels to compare sugar and salt content, and design a balanced lunchbox.
  4. Use a branching key to identify Irish plants and animals and classify materials as natural or manufactured.
  5. Conduct fair tests to compare properties such as absorbency, dissolving, friction, magnet strength and shadow length, identifying which variable is changed.
  6. Map everyday digital devices into inputs, processes and outputs, then write, debug and improve simple Scratch programs using sequences, loops and events.
  7. Follow the design process to interview a user, sketch annotated designs, build and test a prototype structure or solution for a real local problem.

What You'll Need

Required Equipment

Equipment used in some of the lessons in this course. Items can be shared among students.

IWB/Projector/Large Screen
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

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