AC9S5H01 Year 5 Science

AC9S5H01 – Year 5 Science: Nature and development of science

Strand

Science as a human endeavour

Substrand

Nature and development of science

This Content Descriptor from Year 5 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

examine why advances in science are often the result of collaboration or build on the work of others

Elaborations

• researching how the recent discovery of a biofluorescent flying squirrel led to discoveries of more fluorescent mammals, such as wombats, bilbies, echidna and bandicoots as scientists collaborated with other scientists across fields of science and internationally
• researching why European naturalists and scientists first thought the platypus was a faked animal, and how scientists such as those in the Platypus Conservation Initiative are collaborating in ongoing research to understand the features and behaviours of platypuses
• investigating how contemporary soil erosion management practices adapt and build on First Nations Australians’ fire management and agricultural practices
• exploring why developing new erosion mitigation techniques such as contour banks and strip cropping requires geologists, hydrologists and farmers to collaborate
• exploring how understanding of light and optics has developed by comparing the ideas of Plato, Euclid, Ptolemy, Ibn al-Haytham and Roger Bacon

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard:

Year 5 ASSCIY5

Year 5 Science Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 5 students explain how the form and behaviour of living things enables survival. They describe key processes that change Earth’s surface. They identify sources of light and model the transfer of light to explain observed phenomena. They relate the particulate arrangement of solids, liquids and gases to their observable properties. They describe examples of collaboration leading to advances in science, and scientific knowledge that has changed over time. They identify examples where scientific knowledge informs the actions of individuals and communities. Students plan safe investigations to identify patterns and relationships and make reasoned predictions. They identify risks associated with investigations and key intercultural considerations when planning field work. They identify variables to be changed and measured. They use equipment to generate data with appropriate precision. They construct representations to organise data and information and describe patterns, trends and relationships. They compare their methods and findings to those of others, identify possible sources of error in their investigation, pose questions for further investigation and draw reasoned conclusions. They use language features that reflect their purpose and audience when communicating their ideas and findings.