Curriculum links: Science Course examples

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SCIENCE COURSE TITLES

Title / Activity / Brief Description
Curriculum Link
Let’s look at Waitomo Caves
-Let's look at our local area
-Show off our features / Through experience students will see and understand how those features are forming.
Limestone
1. Sinkholes(Doline) & Tomo
2. Caves
3. Crystal Formations / Demonstrate understanding of the formation of surface features in New Zealand.
Internal Process. (Cement, Fault, uplift, Carbonic acid, Cave forming)
External Process. (Deposition, weathering, water table, Crystallisation collapse) / Level 1
Science general
Systems and cycles
AS90952
Internal
Waitomo Caves, limestone and
karst / Waitomo limestone. Uplift. Faulting. Dissolving action Sinkholes (Doline), and Tomo creation, Cave passage forming. Cave calcite crystal forming.
Breakdown. / Investigate geological processes in a New Zealand Locality
Limestone(2 groups, 7 types)
Sandstone Calcareous (limey)
Mudstone / ESS Level 2 SCIENCEAS91189 2.3
Internal
Carbonate carbon cycle / Deposition
Cave weathering
Crystal growth / Demonstrate understanding of carbon cycling. / Level 1 AS 90953
Internal
The Oligocene Drowning / Dating the Oligocene drowning geological event 34- 24 mya / Investigate the evidence related to dating geological event(s) / ESS Level 3 AS91412
Internal
Deep Cave / Investigate Organisms adaptations to the deep cave environment / Investigate how organisms survive in an extreme environment / ESS AS91190 2.4
Internal
The Chemistry of Limestone / Carbon dioxide, Water, Carbonic acid, Calcium Carbonate. Mineralisation/ Crystallisation processes / Balancing chemical equations
Investigate selected chemical reactions
Understanding of aspects of chemical reactions / AS90944-Communicating
Material World
AS90947 Investigate
AS90934 Understand
Level 1 external
The uses and applications
of Limestone / The Chemistry of Industrial Processes
Making new substances / Demonstrate understanding of the chemistry in a technological application / AS90931
Level 1
Internal
Seasonal influences within a Cave / Analyse Waitomo Cave Glowworm data and visit the monitoring sites / Investigate the biological impact of an event on a New Zealand Ecosystem / Living World
Biology
AS90951
Level 1 internal
In and out and around
Gecko
Cave Harvestmen
Cave vs Bush Weta / Otorohanga Kiwihouse
Cave visit
Mahoenui Giant Weta scientific reserve / Demonstrate understanding of adaption of plants or animals to their way of life / Living World
Biology
Level 2 AS 91155
Internal
Geckos and the environment / Otorohanga Kiwihouse / Demonstrate understanding of evolutionary processes leading to speciation / Living World
AS91605
Biology 3.5
Resource Titles or descriptions / Subject & Strand / Possible links to Achievement Aims and or Objectives
Limestone Walks
Karst: How to make
Caves and Sinkholes
Creating a karst Landscape, Making a sugar cave, Sinkholes in a cup
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games / Adapted Resource Exploring Caves. (L2-5) Us Geo Survey. (1997)
Cave Diagram (pg. 29)
Let’s Visit a Cave (pg. 41)
Waitomo Walks
with Worksheets
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Science- Planet Earth and beyond / Earth systems
Level 2-8: Describe how natural features are changed and resources affected by natural events and human actions.
Surface geology of selected parts of New Zealand to understanding geological change over time
Limestone Walks
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games
Waitomo Walks
with Worksheets
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Adapted Resource Exploring Caves. (L2-5) Us Geo Survey. (1997)
Find a Cave (pg. 11) Map Cave Locations (pg. 13)
What Is a Cave? (pg. 7)
Bat shows off the Cave (pg. 15) Follow-up Activity (pg. 19), Colouring Page (pg. 21)
Let’s Visit a Cave (pg. 41) / Earth Cycles: Different aspects of the cycling of matter to understanding how those aspects work
Investigate the geological history of planet Earth and understand that our planet has a long past and has undergone many changes
Earth’s processes and resources to understanding that human activities impacts on a cycle.
Limestone Walks
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games
Waitomo Walks
with Worksheets
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Adapted Resource Exploring Caves. (L2-5) Us Geo Survey. (1997)
Water and Cave Sculptures (pg. 43)
Follow-up Discussion and Demonstration (pg. 45) Colouring Page (pg. 47)
Water Creates a Cave (pg. 49) / Interacting systems
Level 3-4: Investigate the water cycle and its effect on climate, landforms, and life Investigate the Interdependence of those parts and processes
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games
Waitomo Walks
with Worksheets
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Adapted Resource Exploring Caves. (L2-5) Us Geo Survey. (1997)
Adapting to the Dark — Bats and People (pg. 37)
Joni Adapts to the Dark (pg. 39) / Science- Living world / Life processes
Understand the processes of life and appreciate the diversity of living things.
Levels 1-2: Recognise that all living things have certain requirements so they can stay alive.
Level 3-4: Recognise that there are life processes common to all living things and that these occur in different ways.
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games
Waitomo Walks
with Worksheets
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Adapted Resource Exploring Caves. (L2-5) Us Geo Survey. (1997)
Adapting to the Dark — Bats and People (pg 37)
Joni Adapts to the Dark (pg 39)
Let’s Visit a Cave (pg 41) / Ecology
Understand how living things interact with each other and with the non-living environment
Levels 1-2: Recognise that living things are suited to their particular habitat.
Level 3-4: Explain how living things are suited to their particular habitat and how they respond to environmental changes, both natural and human-induced.
Fossils and Subfossils Make your own Fossil castings, Fossil Footprints, GNS Finding Fossils
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games / Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Evolution Levels 1-4
Level 1-2: Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.
Explain how we know that some living things from the past are now extinct.
Level 3-4: Begin to group plants, animals, and other living things into science-based classifications.
Appreciate that some living things in NZ are quite different from living things in other areas of the world.
Limestone
Chemistry of limestone
Limestone
What is dissolving
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit
Limestone
A living sedimentary Rock / Experiments with Carbon Dioxide, Limewater test for CO2 ,What dissolves in what, Where did they go, Thirst quencher, Coffee break, Observe dissolve salt and Dissolve the class
Creating graded beds, Classy Conglomerate rock, To make the best concrete
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Material world / Properties and changes of matter
Level 1, 2, & 3
Observe, describe, and compare physical and chemical properties of common materials and changes that occur when materials are mixed, heated, or cooled.
Limestone
A Dissolving rock
Dissolving Rock, Testing Rocks for limestone content, Purity of limestone
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Limestone
Industrial: uses of and applications
Chemical reactions of limestone, Heating limestone, Adding Water to lime / Chemistry and society
Levels 1-2: Find out about the uses of common materials and relate these to their observed properties.
Level 3-4: Relate the observed, characteristic chemical and physical properties of a range of different materials technological uses and natural processes.
Resource Titles or descriptions / Subject and Strand / Possible links to Achievement Aims and or Objectives
Limestone Walks
Adventure Activities
Caves and Ad Games / Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Science - Nature of Science / Understanding about science
Levels 1-2: Appreciate that scientists ask questions about our world that lead to investigations and that an open-mindedness is important because there may be more than one explanation
Level 3-4: Identify ways in which scientists work together and provide evidence to support their ideas
Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Communicating in science
Level 5-6: Use a wider range of Science vocabulary, symbols, and conventions
Limestone Walks / Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Investigating in science
Carry out science investigations using a variety of approaches
Limestone Walks / Waitomo Discovery Centre Visit / Participating and contributing
Levels 1-2: Explore and act on issues and questions that link their science learning to their daily living
Level 3-4: Use their growing science knowledge when considering issues of concern to them
SCIENCE CAPABILITIES
Gather & interpret data
Learners make careful observations and differentiate between observation and inference.
Use evidence
Science is evidence based
Scientific theories are based on evidence collected by making observations in the natural, physical world. These theories are supported, modified or replaced as new evidence appears. The search for evidence in science occurs through an inquiry process that blends human curiosity, imagination, logic and serendipity. It is strongly influenced by the ideas which people currently hold.
Enquiry into finding evidence to support questions. What is Limestone, how it forms, how it is exposed. Then the process of weathering and erosion over time to form our landscape of Rocks, sinkholes, caves and speleothems.
Critique evidence
Not all questions can be answered by science.
Interpret representations
Scientists use simplified theories or models to describe the way the natural, physical world works. They use these models or theories to make predictions, test these predictions through experimentation and observation and use their results to revise and improve the models.
Engage with science
Gather and present information about the origins and history of major natural features of the local landscape.