Building Science Concepts
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
River catchments are an important part of the water cycle.
|
Waterways contribute to both rapid and gradual geological changes that shape the land.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
The processes of weathering and erosion result from interactions between rocks and solar and cosmic radiation, fluids such as water and air, solids such as ice, and biological agents such as bacteria, plants, and animals.
|
Rocks and landscapes are continuously re-forming.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Living things' specific structures have particular functions that contribute to individual survival.
|
Relationships between structure and function evolve over many generations in response to the challenges of survival in the environment of the time.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Reproduction is the most important activity for the survival of a species.
|
Various features change at different parts of the life history to contribute to reproductive success.
|
Sexual reproduction ensures the variability of offspring; variablilty aids survival in changing environments.
NOTE: There are several other L5 resources dealing with variability, but they do not link directly to survival in changing environments. Search using 'variation' as the key word.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Living things have coverings that are suited to their purposes.
|
As the needs of living things change, their coverings may change too.
|
People use technology to modify the coverings of living things for their own needs.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Plants and animals in the soil depend on each other and on the non-living parts of their environment for their survival.
|
Changes in any part of the soil environment affect the relationships between the plants and animals that live there.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Scientists group living things according to their evolutionary relationships.
|
All the individuals within any one group of living things share a number of features in common.
|
Some features used for classification are readily observed, but others can be observed only with the use of technology and/or science theory.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The Earth's system is a small part of a solar system within the vast system of the universe.
|
The change in relative positions of the Moon, Earth, and Sun determines the apparent change in the shape of the Moon.
|
The way the Moon's gravity pulls on the spinning Earth causes the environmental pattern of tides.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Changes in the shape and size of shadows are caused by changes in the relative positions of the Sun and Earth.
|
Shadows are the relative absence of light where its passage is blocked by objects. |
The physical and chemical properties of materials determine whether light is reflected, transmitted, or absorbed. NOTE: These two resources deal with transparent/opaque materials but not shadows. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Light is a form of energy that can be obtained by various energy conversions.
|
We see colours when different materials reflect different mixes of wavelengths of light.
|
We see when light reflects off objects, enters our eyes, is converted to electrical energy at the retina, and is then interpreted as 'vision' by the brain.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Volcanic activity is a visible product of the slow movement of the hot interior of planet Earth. Many sites of volcanic activity are found along the boundaries of tectonic plates that make up the Earth's crust.
|
Volcanic activity shapes many of the features of planet Earth's surface.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The physical and chemical properties of aluminium make it useful to us. |
Aluminium is present in the environment, but technological processes are needed to change it into a usable form. |
Extraction and disposal of aluminium impact upon the environment.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Temperature is a measure of the heat of an object and is related to how fast the particles that make up the object are moving and vibrating.
|
Heat (the internal energy of an object) is transferred along a gradient from hotter to cooler temperatures.
|
Cooking technologies create a temperature difference that allows us to heat food. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
There is a limited amount of water available to people, and it is continuously recycled.
|
The physical changes of water from one state to another (through evaporation and condensation), together with the associated latent heat changes, 'drive' the water cycle.
|
The water cycle is an important part of Earth's weather. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
The types of changes that materials can undergo are related to their chemical composition.
|
When materials change, individual atoms and molecules are re-arranged, but they are never lost – the matter is conserved.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Some animal adaptations and machine structures make flight possible.
|
Flying is controlled movement through the air.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Sound is a form of energy that, like all other forms of energy, can be transferred or transformed into other types of energy.
|
The properties of sound are related to the manner in which sound waves travel through a substance.
|
The properties of musical instruments are related to the manner in which they generate sound waves. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for life on Earth |
Earth's system is a small part of a solar system within the vast system of the universe.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Living things depend on one another and on the non-living environment in which they live.
|
Changes in any element of the living or non-living environment may affect the relationships between living things and lessen or improve the chances of some species surviving.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The types of changes that materials can undergo are related to their chemical compostion.
|
Chemical reactions occur naturally around us all the time.
|
People have developed technologies that slow down or alter the natural process of decomposition in food.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Plants have special structures that contribute to their reproductive success.
|
Success in reproduction helps plant species to keep adapting as the environment changes.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Our theories about the universe and the Earth's place in it have changed and developed over time.
|
Our theories about the universe and Earth's place in it are limited by what we are able to observe and think about.
|
The development of new kinds of technology has expanded the ways in which people can make observations of space. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
We order the visible stars of the night sky in the patterns that our cultures have taught us.
|
Our position in space governs what celestial objects we can see.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The amount of solar energy available to us is linked to our place in space. |
The amount of solar energy available to us determines the condirions for life on Earth.
|
We use a wide variety of technologies to harness and transform heat and light energy we get from the Sun. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Air is a substance, a mixture of gases, which has the properties of fluids.
|
The movement of the gas particles that make up air influences the ways in which air behaves.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
There is a limited amount of water available to people, and it is continously recycled.
|
The physical changes of water from one state to another (through evaporation and condensation), together with the associated latent heat changes, 'drive' the water cycle.
|
The water cycle is an important part of Earth's weather.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Metals are defined and grouped by the similarities and differences in their physical and chemical properties.
|
People use their understandings of the properties of a metal to promote or prevent the physical and chemical changes that affect the metal's usefulness.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
The movement of objects in the air is a result of net forces in action.
|
The design of objects can influence their rate of movement through air by decreasing or increasing the action of air resistance on them.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Scientists group living things according to their evolutionary relationships.
|
All the individuals within any one group of living things share a number of features in common.
|
Some features used for classification are readily observed, but others can be observed only with the use of technology and/or science theory.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Temperature is a measure of the heat of an object and is related to how fast the particles that make up the object are moving and vibrating.
|
Heat (the internal energy of an object) is transferred along a gradient from hotter to cooler temperatures.
|
Cooking technologies create a temperature difference that allows us to heat food.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
An object (or system containing more than one object or material) floats if it is less dense than the water it is floating in.
|
An object floats when its weight is equal to the weight of the water it displaces. |
An object floats in water when the upthrust balances the object's weight. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Much of what happens to the surface of the Earth is determined by processes that occur within it.
|
Earthquakes may cause sudden, small changes, but in time, their effects may also result in large changes to the landscape.
|
New Zealand is located at the active boundary between two tectonic plates, and earthquakes play an important role in shaping our landscape.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Fossils provide a record of previous life and living conditions on Earth.
|
Fossils can form only where the remains or other traces of living things are preserved from the normal processes of decay and disintergration.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Non-contact forces operate at a distance, through force fields.
|
The combination of balanced and unbalanced forces acting on an object can be used to predict and describe its movement.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Seasonal changes are related to the tilt of the Earth relative to the Sun.
|
Changes in the lower atmosphere that we experience as weather are related to temperature and pressure differences in adjacent air masses. |
Changing day length and temperature are the signals that co-ordinate the responses of living things to overall seasonal changes. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The more closely related species are to each other, the more features they have in common. |
Each species has specific structures with specific functions that contribute to the survival of that species.
|
Each species has its own important role to play in an ecosystem. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
In order to get heat energy, we need to convert other types of energy.
|
Heat energy flows from where it's hot to where it's not. |
What insulating materials are made of and where they are located influence the rate at which heat energy flows.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Fibres and fabrics can be classified according to their properties. |
The properties of different fabrics are related to where the fabric fibres come from. |
The properties of fabrics suit them to particular purposes. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Static and current electricity are related but different. They both involve the movement of electrons.
|
Magnetism is related to electricity, but it is different. Both generate forces that may be experienced without contact.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Changes in the lower atmosphere that we experience as weather are related to temperature and pressure differences between adjacent air masses. |
Extremes of weather can result in rapid changes to the landscape and may have a significant impact on living things.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Living things need support systems in order to resist the force of gravity and to move.
|
People develop technologies using the structural principles that occur in living things.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Moulds are members of the fungus group of living things.
|
Like all living things, moulds have to meet their survival needs.
|
In meeting their own needs, moulds cause changes to other materials.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Machines can be used to transform energy from one form to another. |
Machines can be used to transfer energy or change the direction and/or magnitude of a force.
|
Water and air are fluids whose flow can be harnessed by machines.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Scientists group living things according to their evolutionary relationship.
|
All the individuals within any one group of living things share a number of features.
|
Some features used for classification are readily observed, others can only be observed with the use of scientific equipment and theory.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
There is a direct relationship between the properties of individual materials and the product made from them. |
Materials can change in different ways when subject to different processes.
|
The nature of a change made to materials determines whether the change is temporary or permanent.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
The overall composition of a food determines the types of changes that it can undergo.
|
Different processes lead to different changes in the composition of materials (including foods).
• MW6322 (L3)
|
•
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Changes of state always involve a transfer of energy.
|
The properties that characterise solids, liquids, and gases are related to particle behaviour.
|
The properties of water change when it is combined with other substances. |
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Friction is a contact force that we can use to influence movement.
|
Levers change forces in ways that make it easier for work to be done.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
The chemicals that make up a material, and the way they are arranged, give the material its chemical and physical properties.
|
There are finite amounts of chemicals on Earth, although they can be arranged and re-arranged in different ways.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Arthropods are one large invertebrate classification group.
|
Related animals show different adaptations for their unique lifestyles. |
Spiders are ecologically diverse, with important roles to play in most communities of living things.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes | |
|
Plants undergo the same range of life processes as animals.
|
To survive and thrive, plants need to be able to meet all their photosynthetic requirements from their immediate environment.
|
| Big Idea | Big Idea | Big Idea | Notes |
|
Changes in a material usually involve a loss or gain of energy.
|
The types of changes that materials undergo can be predetermined by the materials' chemical compositions.
|
When materials change, individual atoms are re-arranged but never lost – they can always be found somewhere.
|