South Australia

Life Systems

Standard 4

Standard 5

Key Idea

Students use explanatory models to research the interrelationships within and between individual cells and whole organisms, and the environments which sustain and influence them.

Investigates and explains the functioning of living systems from the microscopic to the macroscopic.

• hypothesises and investigates the effects of introducing a new species to environments, showing how factors such as habitat, predator/prey relationships and competition for food could be affected.
• appraises advantages and disadvantages of reproductive technologies.

Interprets and uses information about the structure and function of living systems and their relationship to survival of ecosystems.

• analyses physical features that enable a species to compete successfully within a sustainable environment.
• describes cell structures and functions
• demonstrates knowledge about emerging ideas, and recognises the cultural locatedness of those ideas.
• discusses and evaluates the importance of biological, social and cultural adaptation in assisting the move of humans towards ecologically sustainable development.

Students examine the ways organisms reproduce, grow and change over generations. They engage with, and appreciate different positions on, ethical issues such as those associated with ecological sustainability and gene technologies.

Explores how living things have changed over geological time and debates the value of species diversity and the ethics of human intervention.

• interrogates and debates issues associated with species diversity, including contemporary rates of species loss and human use of natural environments.

Applies theories and conceptual frameworks associated with evolution, biodiversity, genetics, and the cycling of energy and matter in biological and physiological systems.

• evaluates various points of view, and presents a logical argument, in relation to ethical issues associated with genetic engineering and the application of gene technologies. They come to an informed position about the ethical and social implications of these issues.