Oz-e-Science: Earth and Space Comprehensive Year 4 [W]

In lessons 1 to 14, students learn about:

How the Earth was formed.
Identifying the four main layers of Earth.
The Earth’s main tectonic plates.
Continental drift theory.
Landforms and how they are formed.
The three main types of rock.
The five main layers of soil.
How fossil fuels were formed and their uses.
The reasons why soil erodes and degrades.
The effects of climate change on the Earth.
Conducting research at a local geological site in preparation for the field trip.
How to conduct field research at a local geological site and record findings.
Writing a report using findings from reading and field research.
Practising presenting the information report to an audience.

Identify the two main processes that formed the Earth.
Explain why humans are able to live on Earth.
Identify and label the Earth’s four main layers.
Identify what tectonic plates are.
Describe two examples of what happens where tectonic plates meet.
Outline the tectonic plate boundaries.
Explain what continental drift theory is.
Represent Pangea in an online puzzle.
Describe the difference between constructive and destructive forces.
Classify landforms created by constructive and destructive forces.
Classify landforms created by constructive and/or destructive processes in a card game.
Describe the three main types of rocks and how they were formed.
Classify rocks in the rock cycle.
Describe the five main layers of soil.
Represent the layers of soil in a labelled artwork.
Describe the three main types of fossil fuels.
Plot to represent the main fossil fuel reserves on a map of Australia.
Identify the reasons soil erodes and degrades.
Sequence a cause-and-effect chart.
Identify the effects of climate change on the Earth.
Represent and create a carbon footprint artwork.
Complete research and take notes about a local geological site visited on a field trip.
Learn how to conduct field research conducted at a local geological site and record findings.
Create an information report using reading research and field research from the local geological site.
Practise presenting information report to an audience.

Progress tests

Progress tests are conducted after every second lesson, allowing teachers to monitor student understanding of the concepts taught over the past two lessons and to identify where reteaching is needed.
The Teaching Guide contains the testing questions, and the Student Workbook has a section where students write their answers and score themselves.

Structured Research Activity

The Structured Research Activity (SRA) for this unit is: Students conduct research at a local geological site and record, report and present findings.
The SRA takes place over two lessons so students can apply the Science Understanding and Science Inquiry Skills covered in the unit.
Teachers use the Guide to Making Judgements, which is included in the Teaching Guide, to mark the SRA.

End-of-unit assessment

The last lesson is the end-of-unit assessment, which has a variety of question formats (e.g. label the diagram, circle the correct answer) to assess student mastery of content from the unit.
The end-of-unit assessment is in the Teaching Guide. Teachers copy the assessment and distribute to students at testing time.

Oz-e-science