Year 6 Science – Term 3 (WA Curriculum): Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters

What this unit covers

In Term 3, Year 6 Science in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters”.

Students investigate the causes, effects and locations of extreme weather events and natural disasters including cyclones, floods, bushfires and earthquakes.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Investigating What Causes Extreme Weather Events
2. Mapping Global Earthquake Patterns and the Ring of Fire
3. Understanding How Earthquakes Form and Their Magnitude
4. Exploring Cyclone Formation and Movement Patterns
5. Analyzing the Causes and Effects of Flooding
6. Investigating Bushfire Conditions and Weather Factors
7. Comparing Extreme Weather Events Around the World
8. Designing Early Warning Systems for Natural Disasters

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 3

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 3 runs from Monday 20 July to Friday 25 September — 10 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.