Year 9 Planet Earth and Beyond - School Use

If we view Earth from space we see a planet which, unlike other planets in our solar system, has liquid water at the surface, clouds in its atmosphere, and large and small solid continents. It looks quite different from the other planets which are all cloud or cratered rock.

We tend to think that Earth looks beautiful compared with the other planets, but of course we're biased. But at least we know that this combination of liquid water, rock and a gaseous atmosphere supports the life of which we're a part.

In this course you'll work through two main sections:

1. Astronomy and our solar system‚ we'll consider both the historical ideas about how our solar system came into being, as well as the current theories on this, while also thinking about how we can know some of these things when they happened so long ago, or are about places we can never physically get to. You'll learn about astronomical knowledge Maori hold, as well as Maori narratives (stories) about the creation of Earth and what the various things we see in the sky might mean.
2. Getting to know the planet we live on‚ in this second section of the course we'll explore Earth in some detail, and you'll become familiar with the four 'spheres': the geosphere (land, i.e. rocks and soil), the hydrosphere (water), the biosphere (living things) and the atmosphere (air). We'll also take a look at the particular role of the water cycle, and the importance of water to both life on Earth and the way our lands are shaped through processes like weathering and erosion.

In addition, because it's so important to understand the issue of‚ climate change, we've taken the opportunity to highlight some of the relevant science covered by this course which is hardly surprising, since climate change is the response of Earth's systems to increasing accumulation of heat energy from the Sun.

This course will give you a good grounding in the basic knowledge and language you need to take forward to the Planet Earth and Beyond section of Year 10 Sciences.

LearnWell Digital resources bring you the same great learning as in our books - but in an interactive digital format. They are accessed by using the iQualify online learning platform, where you'll find all your digital resources together in one place.

You can find out more on the information page about our LearnWell Digital resources.

For the print format of this resource, click here.