Core Subject
SCIENCE
The Science curriculum has three interrelated strands: Science Understanding, Science as a
Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills. Together, the three strands of the science
curriculum provide students with understanding, knowledge and skills through which they can
develop a scientific view of the world.
Through a range of learning activities including experimental testing, field work, conducting
surveys, scientific research and using modelling and simulations, students will grow their
interest in Science as well as an ability to think critically and apply their scientific
understandings to real world scenarios and issues.
The Science Understanding strand comprises four sub-strands. The content is described
below by year level. These include: Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Physical
Sciences and Earth and Space Sciences.
Year 7
Students study Science as a formal subject. Our courses are designed to develop a student’s
scientific thinking skills and understanding of the sciences and grow their interest for the
subject.
In Year 7 the topics covered are:
Diversity of life on Earth; the role of classification in ordering and organising information
Flow of energy and matter through ecosystems; food chains, food webs and the water
cycle
Interaction between multiple forces when explaining changes in an object’s motion
Renewable and non-renewable resources
Investigating the relationships between the Earth, sun and moon.
Year 8
In Year 8 the topics covered are:
Cells as microscopic structures and macroscopic properties of living systems
Organisation and interrelationships between body systems
Changes in matter at a particle level; distinguish between chemical and physical
change
Classifying different forms of energy and describe the role of energy in causing change
in systems
Physical and chemical properties of rock and the role of forces and energy in the
formation of different rock types.
Year 9
In Year 9 the topics covered are:
Human body responses to its external environment and the interdependencies
between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems
The notion of the atom as a system of protons, electrons and neutrons, and how this
system can change through nuclear decay
Rearrangement of matter through chemical change
Conservation of matter and energy transfer.
For additional details about the Core Science courses, please contact:
Head of Science, Mr Gary Foster, [email protected] or 9377 9259.
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