AC9S8U01 Year 8 Science

AC9S8U01 – Year 8 Science: Biological sciences

Strand

Science understanding

Substrand

Biological sciences

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

recognise cells as the basic units of living things, compare plant and animal cells, and describe the functions of specialised cell structures and organelles

Elaborations

• exploring an augmented or virtual reality tour of a plant or animal to ‘zoom in’ and understand the scale of cells
• identifying the structure and function of organelles in cells including the nucleus, cell membrane, cell wall, cytoplasm, chloroplasts and vacuoles
• examining a variety of cells, including single-celled organisms, using a light microscope, a digital microscope, simulations and photomicrographs
• comparing the similarities and differences of plant cells and animal cells visible with a light microscope and represented in a digital or physical model
• designing a physical or digital model of a cell and explaining how the representation models the cell
• considering how the invention of the microscope has contributed to understanding of cell structure

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.