Science Earth's Systemsusually ages 9–10

Erosion and weathering

Make observations and measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation

How to tell they’ve got it

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

Define weathering (breaking down of rock in place) and erosion (movement of broken rock/soil)
Describe the effects of at least three agents of weathering/erosion: water, ice, wind, vegetation
Provide evidence from observations showing how weathering or erosion has changed a landscape

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Try this together

Can your child look at a crumbling cliff or a river bank and explain how water, wind, or ice has slowly worn away the rock or soil over time?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Preventing Erosionages 7–8Must understand erosion prevention before measuring weathering/erosion effects systematically

Types of rocksages 9–11Measuring weathering and erosion rates requires 'weathering', 'erosion', and 'deposition' vocabulary

Properties of materialsages 7–8Rock properties knowledge supports understanding how weathering breaks down different rocks

Erosion and weatheringthis skill · ages 9–10

Unlocks

Finding patterns in dataages 9–10Understanding weathering/erosion helps explain patterns in Earth's features

The Rock Cycleages 9–11Rock cycle concept benefits from prior understanding of weathering and erosion

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

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

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S5U02high confidenceYear 5 · Science understanding

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

AC9S4U02low confidenceYear 4 · Science understanding

identify sources of water and describe key processes in the water cycle, including movement of water through the sky, landscape and ocean; precipitation; evaporation; and condensation

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S6U05medium confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S4U08medium confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S6U06low confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · 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

Finding patterns in dataages 9–10 Types of rocksages 9–11 Earth's atmosphereages 10–11 Rock layers and Earth's historyages 10–11

All Earth's Systems skills →