AC9S7U01 Year 7 Science

AC9S7U01 – Year 7 Science: Biological sciences

Strand

Science understanding

Substrand

Biological sciences

This Content Descriptor from Year 7 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

investigate the role of classification in ordering and organising the diversity of life on Earth and use and develop classification tools including dichotomous keys

Elaborations

• observing and identifying the similarities and differences of particular features within and between groups of organisms
• creating and modifying a dichotomous key to classify organisms into groups and groups within groups
• naming and classifying species using scientific conventions from the Linnaean hierarchical classification system, such as kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
• considering the reasons for classifying living things, such as identification and communication
• examining how biological classification has changed over time through improvements in microscopy
• using provided dichotomous keys to identify organisms surveyed on a field trip
• investigating First Nations Australians’ systems of classifying living things and how these systems differ from those used by contemporary science

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard:

Year 7 ASSCIY7

Year 7 Science Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 7 students explain how biological diversity is ordered and organised. They represent flows of matter and energy in ecosystems and predict the effects of environmental changes. They model cycles in the Earth-sun-moon system and explain the effects of these cycles on Earth phenomena. They represent and explain the effects of forces acting on objects. They use particle theory to explain the physical properties of substances and develop processes that separate mixtures. Students identify the factors that can influence development of and lead to changes in scientific knowledge. They explain how scientific responses are developed and can impact society. They explain the role of science communication in shaping viewpoints, policies and regulations. Students plan and conduct safe, reproducible investigations to test relationships and aspects of scientific models. They identify potential ethical issues and intercultural considerations required for field locations or use of secondary data. They use equipment to generate and record data with precision. They select and construct appropriate representations to organise data and information. They process data and information and analyse it to describe patterns, trends and relationships. They identify possible sources of error in methods and identify unanswered questions in conclusions and claims. They identify evidence to support their conclusions and construct arguments to support or dispute claims. They select and use language and text features appropriately for their purpose and audience when communicating their ideas and findings.