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.
Task: Identify from an experiment the preferred living conditions of slaters, and use a fact file to suggest reasons why. Assessment focus: interpreting results of an investigation.
Task: Identify features of 4 animals that live in water, then use this information to decide whether they are fish or not. Assessment focus: classification of fish.
Task: Identify how the kererū's adaptations contribute to its interactions with its ecosystem, and how knowing about kererū's' adaptations can benefit both it and people. Assessment focus: using understandings about adaptations to consider actions affecting the kererū.
Task: Decide the advantages for survival of both introduced and native frogs' life cycles, explain how climate change could impact on native frogs, and identify level of interest in survival of native frogs. Assessment focus: using information about adaptations.
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: Sort cards to identify how four items of rubbish will impact on the beach, plants and animals
that are found there, and humans. They then select items to remove and leave, and justify their
decisions. Assessment focus: impact of materials on the environment.
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.
Make observations from a photograph, identify potential environmental problems giving reasons, decide which problem is the most important and give reasons for the choice.
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.