AC9S8I01 Year 8 Science

AC9S8I01 – Year 8 Science: Questioning and predicting

Strand

Science inquiry

Substrand

Questioning and predicting

This Content Descriptor from Year 8 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

develop investigable questions, reasoned predictions and hypotheses to explore scientific models, identify patterns and test relationships

Elaborations

• discussing what is meant by a causal relationship and examining how causation is different from correlation
• developing investigable questions to test causal relationships, such as: ‘How does the concentration of a salt solution affect plant cells? How does the amount of sunlight affect the amount of electricity produced by a solar cell?’
• developing investigable questions to explore scientific models, such as: ‘How do the shapes of the continents support the theory of plate tectonics?’
• predicting what will happen when conditions change in a given scenario or phenomenon, such as: ‘When materials of less resistance are used to transfer electricity there will be less heat energy produced’
• formulating hypotheses such as: ‘An earthquake of greater magnitude will cause more damage because there is more energy transferred’

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard:

Year 8 ASSCIY8

Year 8 Science Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 8 students explain the role of specialised cell structures and organelles in cellular function and analyse the relationship between structure and function at organ and body system levels. They apply an understanding of the theory of plate tectonics to explain patterns of change in the geosphere. They explain how the properties of rocks relate to their formation and influence their use. They compare different forms of energy and represent transfer and transformation of energy in simple systems. They classify and represent different types of matter and distinguish between physical and chemical change. Students analyse how different factors influence development of and lead to changes in scientific knowledge. They analyse the key considerations that inform scientific responses and how these responses impact society. They analyse the importance of science communication in shaping viewpoints, policies and regulations. Students plan and conduct safe, reproducible investigations to test relationships and explore models. They describe potential ethical issues and intercultural considerations needed for specific field locations or use of secondary data. They select and use equipment to generate and record data with precision. They select and construct appropriate representations to organise and process data and information. They analyse data and information to describe patterns, trends and relationships and identify anomalies. They identify assumptions and sources of error in methods and analyse conclusions and claims with reference to conflicting evidence and unanswered questions. They construct evidence-based arguments to support conclusions and evaluate claims. They select and use language and text features appropriately for their purpose when communicating their ideas, findings and arguments to specific audiences.