Earth and space: Science

Year 7 Earth and space follows AC9S7U03 (the Earth, sun and moon). Year 8 follows AC9S8U04 (igneous rocks) and AC9S8U03 (Earth's layers and plates). Year 9 follows AC9S9U03 (Earth's spheres and the carbon cycle). Year 10 follows AC9S10U03 (the big bang and redshift) and AC9S10U04 (sunlight, energy balance and the greenhouse effect). One tutorial per hinge idea, plus a few others the same boards cover; nodes whose response is a class task are left to class work.

Foundations

Year 7 Earth and spaceSpin, orbit, seasons, phases and tides.The Earth, sun and moon as one system of cycles: spinning and orbiting, seasons from a tilted axis, the moon's phases, eclipses, and tides. Concept tutorials with a live model seen from above and from the side.Year 8 Earth and spaceRocks, Earth's layers and moving plates.Reading rocks, Earth's layers and moving plates. Crystal size records how fast a rock cooled; a rigid outer shell rests on slowly flowing hot rock, and currents in the mantle carry the plates. Concept tutorials with a cross-section of the Earth and simulations of cooling magma and mantle convection.After: Year 7 Earth and space

Extensions

Year 9 Earth and spaceThe carbon cycle through Earth's spheres.Earth's four spheres and the carbon that moves between them: photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and burning fossil fuels. Concept tutorials with a landscape of the spheres and a live carbon cycle you can run for decades.After: Year 8 Earth and space Year 10 Earth and spaceThe big bang and Earth's energy balance.The universe from the big bang to today and the evidence that it is expanding, then Earth's energy balance: sunlight absorbed and reflected, energy flowing between the spheres, and the greenhouse effect. Concept tutorials with a timeline of the universe, expanding space, and a live energy-balance model.After: Year 9 Earth and space