Australian Capital Territory

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

a student:

a student:

a student:

Strands

Life and Living

• identifies and presents evidence that plants and animals are made up of living cells.
• identifies features of groups of living things that help them to survive e.g. explains how features of certain weeds help them to successfully compete with pastures and crops.

• analyses the effects of environmental change on living things and the ecosystem, e.g. the long term effects of the use of pesticides and herbicides on the food chain.
• describes how some characteristics of inheritance are passed on from generation to generation, e.g. disease resistance in plants.

• evaluates scientific evidence about the long-term effects that humans have made on ecosystems.
• reports and comments on a particular scientist’s contributions to our understanding of cell structure and the significance of those contributions.

Working Scientifically

• selects an appropriate method for an investigation taking into account its purpose and the information and equipment available.
• uses instruments and techniques to provide accurate and reliable results.
• selects ways to organise and present information that clearly describes patterns in data and assists in making conclusions.
• identifies and considers factors that influence people’s view of science as a subject and a career choice and its use in our community.
• suggests and compares alternative ways when making decisions to take action e.g. looks at and considers different solutions for controlling feral animals.

• plans ways to guide an investigation (based on hypotheses and predictions) and suggests steps to carry out the investigation involving few variables.
• selects instruments and techniques to collect required information.
• uses information as a stimulus for further investigations.
• assesses conclusions by comparing results with other students, with other sources of information and by linking ideas to other scientific findings.
• reports on factors that have helped or limited the work of a particular scientist.
• analyses the costs and the benefits of choosing different solutions for problems in the community, e.g. assists in decisions about issues such as spraying insects or using biological control.

• identifies advantages and limitations of controlled experiments and describes alternatives.
• takes into account the limitations of the instruments and the techniques that have been used and how these influence the accuracy and reliability of an investigation.
• identifies the limitations of particular forms of information and analysis of this information.
• discusses the many factors that affect and limit conclusions.
• analyses the influence certain scientists have had on the ways we think about the world.
• reports on actions taken by scientists concerned with responsible uses of science e.g. situations where scientists have been involved in public health issues.