Knowledge organiser - Reversible and Irreversible Changes - Year 5

This Knowledge Organiser is tailored for Year 5 students to help them understand the concepts of reversible and irreversible changes in materials. The vocabulary section includes terms such as 'dissolve', which means to become incorporated into another substance, and 'solubility', the chemical property that determines if a substance can dissolve in a solvent. 'Filtering' is the process of removing particles from a substance, and 'melting' refers to the change from solid to liquid. 'Separating' is the act of dividing a substance into parts, while 'thermal' relates to heat or the retention of warmth.

The key knowledge section outlines the essential information students should know about materials and their ability to revert to their original form after undergoing changes. It defines reversible changes as those that can be undone, returning the material to its initial state, and irreversible changes as those that permanently alter a material. Students should be able to provide examples of both types of changes. They are expected to understand how substances dissolve to form solutions and the methods to recover them, such as filtering, sieving, and evaporating. This organiser builds upon prior knowledge and focuses on the main learning objective: distinguishing between reversible and irreversible changes.