STE for 1st Class

Curriculum Mapping Student Devices
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This course introduces 1st Class pupils to core STE concepts through hands-on exploration of living things, materials, energy and forces, technology, and engineering design. Pupils develop observational skills, investigate properties of materials, understand pushes, pulls, sound and energy in daily life, create simple algorithms with floor robots and ScratchJr, and apply the engineering process to design, build and test practical solutions for real classroom problems.
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Open the year with 'STEM eyes', noticing and wondering about the world. Pupils learn to tell living from non-living things, explore what living things do and need, use their five senses to investigate, find out what people need to grow and thrive, and discover how plants and animals grow and change. Highly guided, play-based foundations of the Stage 2 living things outcomes.

Noticing Our World
STEM Eyes: What Do You Notice? Teacher Resources
Is It Living or Non-living? Teacher Resources
What Living Things Do and Our Senses
What Do Living Things Do? Teacher Resources
Our Five Senses: Exploring the World
A Senses Hunt in the School Garden
Growing and Thriving
What Do We Need to Grow and Thrive?
Planting a Seed: What Will It Need?
How Animals Grow and Change

From naming the materials around us, through natural versus man-made and the properties that make a material right for a job, to gentle predict-try-observe inquiries on which material is waterproof, mixing materials, and what Irish weather does to things left outside. Foundational treatment of the Stage 2 materials outcomes, with no heat for pupils.

Naming and Sorting Materials
A Materials Hunt
Natural or Man-made?
Properties and Choosing the Right Material
Describing Materials: Their Properties
Which Material Is Waterproof?
The Right Material for the Job
Mixing and Weathering
Mixing Materials
Left Out in the Weather

Notice the energy that makes things go and how we can save it, feel how pushes and pulls move things, then explore sound: where sounds come from, the wobble (vibration) that makes them, loud and quiet, and muffling sound. Foundational Stage 2 energy and forces outcomes, with no electricity at this stage.

Energy in Our Day
Energy Makes Things Go
Saving Energy at School and Home
Pushes and Pulls
Pushes and Pulls
Make It Move Further
Sound All Around Us
Sounds All Around Us
Sound Is a Wobble (Vibration)
Loud and Quiet Sounds
Muffling Sound: Keep It Quiet

From what technology is and the jobs it does, through digital versus non-digital, to first computational thinking: putting steps in order, spotting a repeat and a bug, driving a floor robot, and meeting ScratchJr on a tablet. Foundational Stage 2 technology and algorithm outcomes, unplugged and on ScratchJr only.

What Is Technology?
What Is Technology?
Digital and Non-digital Technology
First Algorithms Unplugged
Step by Step: First Algorithms Unplugged
Spot the Repeat and the Bug Unplugged
Driving the Floor Robot Unplugged
Meet Scratchjr
Meet Scratchjr
Scratchjr: Make It Move to a Goal

Build the foundations of the design process at Stage 2 lightness: notice a problem someone has, draw a plan, make a prototype, and share it. Through an empathy and planning pair, a strong tower, a floating boat, and a two-lesson make-and-share project for a friend, pupils experience their first project arc this year.

Engineers Help People
Engineers Help People
Plan and Draw Your Idea
Building and Testing
Build a Strong Tower
Build a Little Boat That Floats
Project: Make Something Better for a Friend
Plan and Make
Share and Reflect

Open the year with 'STEM eyes', noticing and wondering about the world. Pupils learn to tell living from non-living things, explore what living things do and need, use their five senses to investigate, find out what people need to grow and thrive, and discover how plants and animals grow and change. Highly guided, play-based foundations of the Stage 2 living things outcomes.

Noticing Our World
STEM Eyes: What Do You Notice? Teacher Resources
Is It Living or Non-living? Teacher Resources
What Living Things Do and Our Senses
What Do Living Things Do? Teacher Resources
Our Five Senses: Exploring the World
A Senses Hunt in the School Garden
Growing and Thriving
What Do We Need to Grow and Thrive?
Planting a Seed: What Will It Need?
How Animals Grow and Change

From naming the materials around us, through natural versus man-made and the properties that make a material right for a job, to gentle predict-try-observe inquiries on which material is waterproof, mixing materials, and what Irish weather does to things left outside. Foundational treatment of the Stage 2 materials outcomes, with no heat for pupils.

Naming and Sorting Materials
A Materials Hunt
Natural or Man-made?
Properties and Choosing the Right Material
Describing Materials: Their Properties
Which Material Is Waterproof?
The Right Material for the Job
Mixing and Weathering
Mixing Materials
Left Out in the Weather

Notice the energy that makes things go and how we can save it, feel how pushes and pulls move things, then explore sound: where sounds come from, the wobble (vibration) that makes them, loud and quiet, and muffling sound. Foundational Stage 2 energy and forces outcomes, with no electricity at this stage.

Energy in Our Day
Energy Makes Things Go
Saving Energy at School and Home
Pushes and Pulls
Pushes and Pulls
Make It Move Further
Sound All Around Us
Sounds All Around Us
Sound Is a Wobble (Vibration)
Loud and Quiet Sounds
Muffling Sound: Keep It Quiet

From what technology is and the jobs it does, through digital versus non-digital, to first computational thinking: putting steps in order, spotting a repeat and a bug, driving a floor robot, and meeting ScratchJr on a tablet. Foundational Stage 2 technology and algorithm outcomes, unplugged and on ScratchJr only.

What Is Technology?
What Is Technology?
Digital and Non-digital Technology
First Algorithms Unplugged
Step by Step: First Algorithms Unplugged
Spot the Repeat and the Bug Unplugged
Driving the Floor Robot Unplugged
Meet Scratchjr
Meet Scratchjr
Scratchjr: Make It Move to a Goal

Build the foundations of the design process at Stage 2 lightness: notice a problem someone has, draw a plan, make a prototype, and share it. Through an empathy and planning pair, a strong tower, a floating boat, and a two-lesson make-and-share project for a friend, pupils experience their first project arc this year.

Engineers Help People
Engineers Help People
Plan and Draw Your Idea
Building and Testing
Build a Strong Tower
Build a Little Boat That Floats
Project: Make Something Better for a Friend
Plan and Make
Share and Reflect

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA STE Education Specification (2025)
Curriculum Area
Outcomes
Nature of STEM
S1.2.1
Living things
S2.2.1 S2.2.2
Materials
S3.2.1 S3.2.2
Energy and forces
S4.2.1 S4.2.2 S4.2.3
Technology
S5.2.1 S5.2.2
Engineering
S6.2.1

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. Develop observational skills by noticing and questioning everyday living and non-living things in their immediate environment
  2. Identify the basic needs and life processes of plants and animals, including growth, change, and the role of the five senses
  3. Recognise different materials, their properties, and how these determine their suitability for specific purposes
  4. Understand energy, forces, and sound through exploration of pushes, pulls, vibrations, and everyday energy use
  5. Apply computational thinking by creating and debugging simple algorithms both unplugged and in ScratchJr
  6. Follow the engineering design process to identify problems, plan, build, test, and improve simple solutions for others

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify and sort everyday objects into living and non-living categories, giving one clear reason for each choice.
  2. Use their five senses to observe and describe features of objects and the school garden during sensory activities.
  3. Distinguish between needs and wants for humans and plants, and care for a growing bean or cress seed over time.
  4. Sort materials as natural or man-made, then test and describe their properties such as waterproof, bendy or see-through.
  5. Recognise energy being used in the classroom, identify ways to save energy, and demonstrate pushes and pulls through practical activities.
  6. Distinguish between loud and quiet sounds, explain that sound is caused by vibration, and test materials that muffle sound.
  7. Create and debug simple unplugged algorithms using picture cards and floor robots.
  8. Build short block-based programs in ScratchJr to make a character move across a scene to a goal.
  9. Follow the engineering process to identify a real problem for a friend, draw a labelled design, build a model using available materials, and explain how it solves the 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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