Earth and Space Sciences
Our Changing Earth
Students simulate mechanical and chemical weathering, model water erosion on a sugar cube landscape, build layered sedimentary rock from plasticine, model the rock cycle, and excavate fossil specimens as palaeontologists.
Year 3–4
90 min
up to 30 students
$490 + GST
What students will do
Students simulate mechanical weathering by shaking chalk with sand in a sealed container, comparing how the chalk changes between rounds. They then observe chemical weathering by submerging chalk in double-strength vinegar. Working in pairs, students use a pipette to drip water onto a sugar cube cliff and watch how water flow reshapes the landscape over time. Students layer plasticine in four colours and press it to model sedimentary rock formation, then reuse the same plasticine to model the rock cycle further: pressing and rubbing it to represent heat and pressure forming a metamorphic rock, then reshaping a piece to represent an igneous rock cooling from molten material. The session closes with a palaeontology station where students excavate fossil specimens from a sand container and identify real rock specimens from a sample box.
Learning outcomes
- Investigate how mechanical weathering breaks down rock, using shaken chalk and sand as a model
- Investigate how chemical weathering breaks down rock, using chalk submerged in vinegar as a model
- Model how flowing water erodes a landscape over time, using a sugar cube and dripped water
- Model sedimentary rock formation by layering and compressing plasticine
- Model how heat and pressure can transform one rock type into another, and how melting and cooling can form a new rock type
- Identify real rock specimens and describe observable properties that help distinguish sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rock
- Excavate and identify fossil specimens and explain how fossils preserve evidence of once-living things
Curriculum links
- VC2S4U06Core
Rocks, minerals and soils are natural resources with properties that determine how they can be used. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4U01Core
Living, once-living, including fossils, and non-living things can be distinguished and classified. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4I03Core
Formal measurements, including the use of familiar scaled instruments, can be made and recorded to represent and compare data. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6U05Enrichment
Rapid processes, including weathering and erosion, and slow processes acting over millions of years, change the surface of the Earth. View on VCAA ↗
Often booked alongside
Chemical Sciences
Christmas SciTech
Students grow a crystal Christmas tree, mould a bouncy snowball, unmask mystery liquids with a colour-change indicator, make instant snow, launch Santa's sleigh and build a snowball catapult to take home.
Physical Sciences
Force & Motion
Students measure forces with a spring balance, test friction across surfaces, feel inertia first-hand, launch reaction rockets, and explore magnetism and static electricity.
Physical Sciences
Heat & Energy
Students investigate how heat moves by observing particle movement, comparing conduction through plastic and metal using an infrared thermometer, and testing how insulators slow heat transfer.
Bring Our Changing Earth to your school
Tell us your year levels and preferred dates. We'll confirm availability and bring everything with us.
Limited dates each term — one facilitator, one school per day.