Science and Technology K–6 · Year 5

Stream table: watching water carve a landscape

Science understanding: Earth and space sciences

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Moving water erodes, transports and deposits sediment, and a tray of sand on a slope shows the channel, the load and the fan forming, with slope and flow as the variables that change them.

What you need

a shallow plastic tray about 60 x 40 cm with a drain hole or notch at one end
about 7 L of damp sand, enough to level it 3 cm deep (60 x 40 x 3 cm is 7.2 L)
a 1 L jug or a bottle with a 5 mm hole as a steady water source
bricks or books to raise one end: 5 cm and 10 cm
a bucket to catch the outflow, a ruler and a stopwatch
a pinch of coloured sand or glitter to trace the load

How to do it

Level the sand and raise the upper end of the tray by 5 cm. Place the bucket under the drain.
Pour 1 L of water steadily onto the upper end over 60 seconds from the same height each time.
Measure the length and widest width of the channel and the length of the fan of sand deposited at the bottom. Sketch the tray from above.
Re-level the sand, raise the end to 10 cm and repeat with 1 L over 60 seconds.
Re-level again, keep 5 cm, but pour 1 L over 20 seconds (faster flow) and repeat the measurements.
Compare channel and fan measurements across the three runs and describe what steeper slope and faster flow each did.

What you should see

Water cuts a channel that deepens and lengthens down the slope, carries sand as a cloudy load, and drops it as a fan where the water slows at the bottom. Steeper slope and faster flow both move more sand, so the fan grows, and they change the channel's shape, which the learner measures and sketches; coloured sand placed at the top ends up in the fan, proving transport. The measurements are the learner's; the direction of each change is the finding, matching real valleys, floodplains and deltas.

What changes

What you change: slope, then flow rate
What you measure: channel length and width; fan length
What you keep the same: sand depth and dampness
water volume
pouring position

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

Rivers are carved only by floods.
Sand at the river mouth was always there.
Erosion is fast and always dramatic (most is slow; the tray compresses time).

Safety card

Low riskLearners carry it out

Hazards

water on the floor
heavy tray

Controls

work outdoors or over a tarp
two people lift the tray

Note

Risk assessment before the lesson using Primary RiskAssess or the school's own template.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), current, taught until 2026; a Stage 2 outcome, because NSW teaches gradual weathering and erosion in Stage 2 ('investigate why the Earth's surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity'), while the Stage 3 surface-change content under ST3-10ES-S covers sudden geological change and extreme weather events, its other content group being Earth's place in our solar system; code read from the syllabus document on 22 September 2026ST2-10ES-S
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), implemented from 2027; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare and 2027 start teaching, and schools may choose to implement it during 2026; Stage 2 content under 'Forces shape Earth's surface': 'Describe and model how forces produced by moving water cause erosion'; code read from the outcomes page and the content read from the Stage 2 content page on 22 September 2026ST2-SCI-01
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), current, taught until 2026; code read from the syllabus document on 22 September 2026ST3-1WS-S
Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), implemented from 2027; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare and 2027 start teaching, and schools may choose to implement it during 2026; code read from the outcomes page on 22 September 2026ST3-PQU-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9S5U02AC9S5I02AC9S5I03AC9S5I04

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

All Concept Studio activities