Learning Map

Earth & Space Vocabulary

Use technical vocabulary for Earth's motion and the wider universe — rotation, revolution, axis, tilt, orbit, light year, gravitational force, atmosphere, lunar phases, waxing, waning, solstice, equinox, eclipse — and apply these when explaining day and night, the seasons, and the Moon's phases

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

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Try this together

Can your child explain the difference between the Earth rotating and the Earth orbiting the Sun — using the actual science words 'rotation' and 'revolution'?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on
Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.
Earth & Space Vocabularythis skill · ages 8–11
Unlocks
Earth's rotation and day/nightages 9–11Explaining day and night using Earth's rotation requires 'rotation' and 'axis' vocabulary
Phases of the Moonages 11–12Explaining moon phases requires 'lunar phases', 'waxing', 'waning', and 'eclipse' vocabulary
Why We Have Seasonsages 11–12Explaining seasons through axial tilt requires 'axis', 'tilt', 'orbit', 'solstice', and 'equinox' vocabulary
Galaxies and the universeages 12–13Describing the scale of the universe using light years and galaxies draws on this vocabulary

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 1 NSW · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S6U02high confidenceYear 6 · Science understanding

describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun and model how Earth’s tilt, rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun relate to cyclic observable phenomena, including variable day and night length

AC9S2U01medium confidenceYear 2 · Science understanding

recognise Earth is a planet in the solar system and identify patterns in the changing position of the sun, moon, planets and stars in the sky

AC9S5U02low confidenceYear 5 · Science understanding

describe how weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition cause slow or rapid change to Earth’s surface

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ST1-SCI-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S6U07medium confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand
VC2S2U08low confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

All Space Systems & Earth's History skills →