Task: Students interpret information about couch grass from a diagram and explain why its special features make it difficult to get rid of. Assessment focus: special features ensure a plant's survival.
Task: Watch a video of two sofas burning, record the results, and use the evidence to make inferences about fire retardants. Assessment focus: using observations to provide evidence.
Task: Match statements about materials that sound travels through, with corresponding science idea. Assessment focus: choosing evidence to support a science idea.
Students use their knowledge of the fire triangle to identify risk factors for a given scenario, and apply this to their own situation. They use rubrics to rate and improve some of their explanations.
Task: Using statements from four people decide and justify whether or not each person supports wind farms. Identify which person has a misconception about wind farms, giving a reason. Assessment focus: identifying different perspectives.
Students list advantages and disadvantages of recycling. The assessment focuses on students' ability to identify impacts on the environment and its inhabitants (including people).
Task: Students suggest ways to stop sand dunes blowing on to farmland, and describe the predicted outcome of their suggestions. Assessment focus: application of knowledge of erosion to a specific situation.
For this task students are provided with some weather information that includes the UV index. Students interpret this information to answer three short answer questions.
Students are provided with five rules to follow during a thunderstorm with lightning. Students select two of these rules and explain the science behind the rule.
Task: Complete a drawing of things found on a dairy farm, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a dairy farm environment.
Task: Complete a drawing of things found in and near a flax bush, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a flax bush environment.
Task: Complete a drawing of things found in an area of native bush and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a native bush environment.
Task: Complete a drawing of things found in or near an ocean, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in an ocean environment.
Task: Students identify which different events threaten our native birds or have done so in the past. Assessment focus: identification of the specific impacts of human actions.
Task: Interpret a flowchart and text to identify in what ways goats are pests. Assessment focus: identifying ways in which goats are pests and how they are controlled.
Task: Students explain six things that would be needed to develop and maintain an offshore island habitat for endangered birds. Assessment focus: identification of needs of endangered birds.