Lesson 12 — Waste Rock Stockpile Investigation (Assessment)

Earth and space sciences plus inquiry, summative investigation. Students apply their weathering and erosion knowledge to a real Western Australian mining problem: acid mine drainage from a waste-rock stockpile. Using dyed salt in sand to model the stockpile, they plan and conduct a fair-test investigation of a design (a cover of rocks, twigs, vegetation or plastic wrap) to reduce how much coloured 'acid' leaches out when it 'rains', record and compare their results to an uncovered demonstration, and evaluate and improve their design. This is the strand's summative assessment, modelled on the SCSA Year 4 exemplar Waste Rock Stockpile task (Appendix C). Uses the shared Fair Test Investigation Template. Includes a slide deck with an animated leaching-and-cover model and the Waste Rock Stockpile assessment task sheet. Connects to Sustainability, Ethical Understanding (mining and the environment) and Design and Technologies.