Earth systems resources

Students suggest ways to prevent a steep bank slipping. The assessment focus is application of their knowledge about erosion.

Students are given a key list of words associated with earthquakes. Student use these and their own knowledge to write a paragraph explaining five key points about earthquakes.

For this task students are provided with a diagram of a landslip and an example of a possible cause of this. Students are required to list four other possible causes of landslips.

Students follow a story about searching for gold on an island. In the process they answer five questions about landforms.

Students use a diagram that shows a proposed site for a town that has a river running through it. Students identify where it would be best to collect drinking water, and how town planners could stop the town from flooding.

Students are provided with a newspaper article titled 'Gentle quake the latest in swarm' and use this to answer three questions.

Students are asked to explain the meaning of the terms, recycle, reduce, and reuse.

Students explain a plastic recycling symbol. This resource assesses an aspect of knowledge helpful for making decisions about recycling.

This resource requires students to process information on an earthquake. This entails calculating the distance that the recording stations are from an earthquake's epicentre, locating the epicentre, calculating the magnitude, and answering general questions on earthquakes.

Students are provided with information about the Earth's interior. Using this information and a provided scale, students construct and label a scale diagram of the Earth's interior.

Using data from three different locations, students calculate the time difference between the arrival of P and S waves and the distance of each location from an earthquake's epicentre. Students use these distances to locate the epicentre on a map of NZ.

Using a stimulus diagram showing plate tectonics, students explain why the following geological features or events; earthquakes, mid-ocean ridge, ocean trench, and volcanoes are present.

Students are provided with a diagram of a roadside cutting. They are asked to mark the fault line and the youngest rock layer in this cutting. Students then suggest two explanations for the pattern shown in the diagram.

Students are provided with a diagram showing layers of rock and three possible results of changes that could occur. Words and phrases are provided to help students answer several short answer questions about the possible cause of the changes.

Students are provided with two diagrams, one showing the focus of earthquakes in NZ and the other the Earth's plates. Students interpret these diagrams and use them to answer three short questions.

A diagram representing an area of a civil emergency is provided and students are asked to identify the geological event that has caused this. Students then give six hazards or problems that could result from this geological event.

For this task students are asked to explain the cause of weathering of rocks and to identify the hardest and the softest rock in a column of rock.

Students view four sequential diagrams on fossilisation, and then write explanations about this process using the diagrams and their own knowledge.

Students view an online animation which illustrates stages of a volcanic eruption, write their observations and answer question about eruptions. Assessment focus: observations based on a model, and knowledge of volcanic eruptions.

Student view an online animation of cliff erosion and then write a description of what they observe about this process.

Students are provided with a diagram showing rock layers. Students use this diagram to answer a number of questions.

Students answer questions about major natural events that happened on the Earth in one week by interpreting a diagram showing these.

Students complete a diagram of a geyser by writing the correct labels from a given selection. Students are also required to answer what causes the water to heat up.

On a diagram students indicate how a cliff face might look different in 100 years from now, and explain the probable cause of this.

Students use a diagram of a cutting showing exposed rock layers to answer questions about their formation, age, and geological history.