This book is specifically written for the Year 8 Australian Curriculum Science Course. The three topics (strands) covered are: Science as a Human Endeavour, Science Inquiry Skills and Science Understanding.

All the Science Understanding subtopics (substrands) are covered as follows in the chapters:

• Cells and body systems (Biological Sciences)
• Elements and compounds (Chemical Sciences)
• Minerals, rocks and the environment (Earth and Space Sciences)
• Energy (Physical Sciences)