Planet Earth resources

Students interpret two cartoon-style drawings of the enhanced greenhouse effect and write a short description of the artist’s message, as they see this.

Students indicate whether a series of statements apply to lunar eclipses, solar eclipses, or both.

This practical resource requires students to demonstrate some phases of the Moon.

Students are given a diagram that is used to describe the surface temperature and brightness of stars. Using the diagram and information provided, students indicate where different stars would be located.

For this assessment students read a paragraph of information about the stars. They use this to complete a table that summarises all this information.

Task: Answer questions about the temperature and brightness of types of stars. Assessment focus: interpreting a graph.

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.

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

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

Students are provided with a weather map showing the lower North Island of NZ. Students are required to interpret this map to answer three short answer questions.

Students are asked to explain why the Southern Cross appears not to be in the same place in the night sky that it was a few months previously.

Students are provided with a map that has numbers on it representing various ash fall depths from a volcanic eruption. Students draw lines to link the similar numbers and answer questions about these. They also explain three major problems an ash fall could cause.

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

Task: Answer 2 multiple choice questions about how we would see Moon from Earth if its orbit changed. Assessment focus: relationship of Sun, Earth, and Moon.

This resource requires students to construct a graph on data for temperature and depth below the Earth's crust. Students then answer four questions about this.

Task: Use written text about farming's contribution to climate change to complete a flow chart, and answer questions about the two texts. Assessment focus: interpreting, using, and comparing different types of text.

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 answer three questions by interpreting a weather map and other forecast information.

Students are asked four short questions that explore their understanding of the Earth's rotation, Earth's revolution, and seasons.

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 use diagrams of rock layers to answer questions concerning geological history, oldest layer, and to account for the presence of fossils.

Students interpret information about unnamed planets and their length of year to answer questions about their distance from the Sun and the order of these planets from the Sun.

Students are provided with data showing the temperature and the cloud cover over a one week period. Students use this information to identify the two nights that would be the best to protect plants outside from possible frost damage and also to identify why protection is needed on such nights.

Task: Label a diagram. Assessment focus: relative positions of Earth and Sun for each season.

For this task students are provided with a table of weather observations for a day in September. Students are required to write a weather report using headings that have been provided.