AC9S10I06 Year 10 Science

AC9S10I06 – Year 10 Science: Evaluating

Strand

Science inquiry

Substrand

Evaluating

This Content Descriptor from Year 10 Science provides the specific knowledge and skills students should learn. Use it to plan lessons, create learning sequences, and design assessments that align with the Australian Curriculum v9.

Content Descriptor

assess the validity and reproducibility of methods and evaluate the validity of conclusions and claims, including by identifying assumptions, conflicting evidence and areas of uncertainty

Elaborations

• evaluating the strength of a conclusion that can be inferred from a particular data set
• distinguishing between random and systematic errors and how these can affect investigation results
• judging the validity of science-related media reports and how these reports might be interpreted by the public
• identifying assumptions in methods then examining if further testing or extra variable control is needed
• considering how data variation can indicate uncertainty and might affect confidence in conclusions reached and claims made
• analysing conclusions and claims to identify facts or premises that are taken for granted to be true, and evaluating the reasonableness of those assumptions

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard:

Year 10 ASSCIY10

Year 10 Science Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 10 students explain the processes that underpin heredity and genetic diversity and describe the evidence supporting the theory of evolution by natural selection. They sequence key events in the origin and evolution of the universe and describe the supporting evidence for the big bang theory. They describe trends in patterns of global climate change and identify causal factors. They explain how Newton’s laws describe motion and apply them to predict motion of objects in a system. They explain patterns and trends in the periodic table and predict the products of reactions and the effect of changing reactant and reaction conditions. Students analyse the importance of publication and peer review in the development of scientific knowledge and analyse the relationship between science, technologies and engineering. They analyse the key factors that influence interactions between science and society. Students plan and conduct safe, valid and reproducible investigations to test relationships or develop explanatory models. They explain how they have addressed any ethical and intercultural considerations when generating or using primary and secondary data. They select equipment and use it efficiently to generate and record appropriate sample sizes and replicable data with precision. They select and construct effective representations to organise, process and summarise data and information. They analyse and connect a variety of data and information to identify and explain patterns, trends, relationships and anomalies. They evaluate the validity and reproducibility of methods, and the validity of conclusions and claims. They construct logical arguments based on analysis of a variety of evidence to support conclusions and evaluate claims. They select and use content, language and text features effectively to achieve their purpose when communicating their ideas, findings and arguments to diverse audiences.