AC9S8I01 – Year 8 Science: Questioning and predicting
Content Descriptor
This content descriptor sits within Year 8 Science. Use it to identify the learning students need, connect it with the achievement standard and plan suitable evidence of learning.
What this means for planning
AC9S8I01 brings together three related but different inquiry moves: developing an investigable question, making a reasoned prediction and formulating a hypothesis. Students should be able to connect each statement to a model, pattern or proposed relationship that can be explored with evidence.
A practical planning sequence
- Start with a phenomenon or model: Choose a context in which students can identify a pattern, variable or relationship worth investigating.
- Refine the question: Check that the question is specific, investigable and matched to evidence students can realistically collect or analyse.
- Connect prediction and hypothesis: Ask students to justify what they expect and express the proposed relationship clearly enough for it to be tested.
Evidence to look for
- An investigable question that identifies a measurable relationship or a scientific model to explore.
- A prediction supported by relevant scientific reasoning rather than a guess.
- A hypothesis that can be tested, followed by a short revision explaining how feedback improved it.
See the complete curriculum context
Open the achievement standard and all linked content descriptors together in the Year 8 Science curriculum map.
A TeaCheese planning example
Use AC9S8I01 in a TeaCheese planning brief to generate a question clinic in which students diagnose, improve and justify sample questions, predictions and hypotheses.
Planning guides: How content descriptions work in the Australian Curriculum · Turn a content description into learning intentions and success criteria
Elaborations
- • Elaboration discussing what is meant by a causal relationship and examining how causation is different from correlation
- • Elaboration 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?’
- • Elaboration developing investigable questions to explore scientific models, such as: ‘How do the shapes of the continents support the theory of plate tectonics?’
- • Elaboration 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’
- • Elaboration formulating hypotheses such as: ‘An earthquake of greater magnitude will cause more damage because there is more energy transferred’
Plan a lesson from this content description.
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