1. Who are our neighbours in space?
1.0 Extension: Use a range of secondary sources to make accurate observations of the night sky
1.1 Identify and describe the components of our Solar System: Sun, planets, dwarf planets, moons, meteors, meteorites, asteroids and comets.
1.2 Describe and compare features of the Sun and Moon (e.g. light source, size, distance from earth, composition, gravity)
1.3 Construct or participate in a model to demonstrate the relative positions, sizes and distances involved in the Solar System.
1.4 Identify the relative positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth.
2. Are they good neighbours?
2.1 Explain Earth’s day and night in terms of its rotation on its axis.
2.2 Explain Earth’s year and seasons in terms of its revolution around the Sun.
2.3 Explain the phases of the Moon in terms of the Moon’s revolution around the Earth.
2.4 Explain how the Moon causes tides.
2.5 Explain lunar and solar eclipses in terms of the relative positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun.
2.6 Extension: Describe possible future uses of and dangers to Earth from asteroids, meteors and comets.
3. How did we come to understand the Solar System?
3.1 Explore the indigenous Australian stories about and uses of the movement of solar system bodies.
3.2 Summarise the development of different models of the solar system, including the ideas of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler.
3.3 Explain why scientists needed to use models of the solar system, and the usefulness of their models in making predictions.
3.4 Compare the geocentric and heliocentric models of the Solar System, and explain why the geocentric model was replaced.
3.5 Evaluate the importance of technological developments, including telescopes, to our current model of the Solar System.
3.6 Use the ABCDE method to identify the validity of resources when investigating claims of Flat Earthers.
4. Can we live on Mars?
4.1 Justify the reasons for exploring space, especially current plans to colonise Mars.
4.2 Explain some issues surrounding reaching and living on Mars.