Science // Area
Ecosystems & Habitats
Age coverage
Ages 5 to 14
Starts at age 5 // 2 topics
Starting at age 5
- Plants and animals in their habitats
Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals and the places they live, connecting organism needs to habitat…
Ages 5 to 6Concept - Reducing Human Impact
Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and other living things in the local environment
Ages 5 to 6Concept
Starts at age 6 // 5 topics
Starting at age 6
Your child is exploring how living things interact with their environment — learning about different habitats, simple food chains, and the difference between living, dead, and never-alive things.
- Living, Dead & Never Alive
Explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive
Ages 6 to 7Concept - Habitats & Basic Needs
Identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how habitats provide for basic needs and how organisms depend on each…
Ages 6 to 8Concept - Simple Food Chains
Describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify different sources of food
Ages 6 to 7Concept - Habitat Vocabulary
Name and use vocabulary for where living things are found — habitat, environment, microhabitat, conditions, woodland, ocean, desert, rainforest, pond — and use…
Ages 6 to 8Language - Local Plants & Animals
Identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats such as under a log or in a pond
Ages 6 to 8Concept
Starts at age 8 // 8 topics
Starting at age 8
Your child is exploring how living things interact with each other and their environments — understanding food chains, animal groupings, and how scientists classify and identify different species in nature.
- Changing Environments
Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers and challenges to living things
Ages 8 to 9Concept - Food Chains & Energy Transfer
Construct and interpret food chains identifying producers, predators, and prey, and understand energy transfer between trophic levels
Ages 8 to 9Concept - Grouping Living Things
Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways based on observable features
Ages 8 to 9Concept - Classification Keys
Explore and use classification keys to identify, group, and name living things in local and wider environments
Ages 8 to 9Method - Human impact on environments
Use vocabulary for human impact on the environment — pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, biodiversity, conservation, renewable energy, non-renewable…
Ages 8 to 11Language - Animal Groups & Survival
Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive, such as herds, packs, or colonies
Ages 8 to 9Concept - Ecology Vocabulary
Use vocabulary for feeding relationships and ecological roles — producer, consumer, predator, prey, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, decomposer, food chain, food…
Ages 8 to 10Language - Reading Food Web Diagrams
Read and interpret food web diagrams — identify producers, primary and secondary consumers, and decomposers; trace energy flow along food chains within the web…
Ages 8 to 9Representation
Starts at age 9 // 2 topics
Starting at age 9
Your child is learning about how living things reproduce and grow — comparing different life cycles from mammals to insects, and understanding the various ways plants and animals create new generations.
- Animal Life Cycles
Describe differences in the life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects, and birds, comparing metamorphosis with direct development
Ages 9 to 10Concept - Plant & Animal Reproduction
Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals, including sexual and asexual reproduction in plants
Ages 9 to 10Concept
Starts at age 10 // 4 topics
Starting at age 10
Your child is learning how scientists classify living things into groups based on their characteristics and understanding how matter moves through ecosystems as plants, animals, and decomposers interact with their environment.
- Matter Cycling in Ecosystems
Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment in an ecosystem
Ages 10 to 11Concept - Evidence-Based Classification
Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics, using evidence to justify classification decisions
Ages 10 to 11Method - Classifying Organisms
Describe how living things are classified into broad groups (micro-organisms, plants, animals) according to common observable characteristics, similarities, and…
Ages 10 to 11Concept - Communities Protecting Resources
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment
Ages 10 to 11Concept
Starts at age 11 // 4 topics
Starting at age 11
- Food Webs & Interdependence
Construct and interpret food webs showing the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, explaining how a change in one population affects others
Ages 11 to 12Concept - Pollination & Pollinator Decline
Explain the importance of insect pollination for plant reproduction and human food security, and discuss the consequences of pollinator decline
Ages 11 to 12Concept - Energy Loss Between Levels
Explain how energy is transferred between trophic levels in a food chain, why energy is lost at each stage, and use pyramids of biomass/numbers to represent…
Ages 11 to 12Concept - The Water Cycle
Describe the water cycle, tracing water through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff, and transpiration in plants, explaining how the sun…
Ages 11 to 12Concept
Starts at age 12 // 10 topics
Starting at age 12
- Extinction & Rapid Change
Explain how environmental change can outpace a species' ability to adapt through natural selection, leading to extinction, using historical and contemporary…
Ages 12 to 14Concept - The Carbon Cycle
Describe the carbon cycle, tracing carbon through photosynthesis, respiration, feeding, decomposition, and combustion, and explain the role of each process
Ages 12 to 13Concept - How Natural Selection Works
Explain natural selection as the mechanism of evolution: heritable variation + competition for resources + differential survival and reproduction = change in…
Ages 12 to 14Concept - Evidence for Evolution
Describe the main types of evidence for evolution: the fossil record (change over time), comparative anatomy (homologous structures), and the geographic…
Ages 12 to 14Concept - Species Distribution & Change
Explain how environmental change (climate change, habitat loss, pollution) affects the distribution of species, including range shifts, local extinction, and…
Ages 12 to 13Concept - Variation in Species
Explain variation within and between species, distinguishing between continuous variation (e.g. height) and discontinuous variation (e.g. blood group), and…
Ages 12 to 13Concept - Biodiversity & Resilience
Explain what biodiversity means, why high biodiversity makes ecosystems more resilient, and describe the ways human activity threatens biodiversity (habitat…
Ages 12 to 14Concept - Toxins Building Up in Food Chains
Explain how organisms affect and are affected by their environment, including the bioaccumulation of toxic materials (e.g. pesticides, heavy metals) through…
Ages 12 to 13Concept - Chromosomes, Genes & DNA
Describe the relationship between chromosomes, genes, and DNA in heredity, including the double helix structure of DNA and the historical roles of Watson…
Ages 12 to 13Concept - Genetic Mutation
Explain genetic mutation as a random change in DNA sequence, describe causes of mutation (e.g. radiation, chemicals, copying errors), and explain that most…
Ages 12 to 14Concept
Starts at age 13 // 1 topic
Starting at age 13
- Predicting Inherited Traits
Explain how alleles are inherited in sexual reproduction and use Punnett squares to predict the probability of offspring inheriting a characteristic, including…
Ages 13 to 14Concept