Science

All classes from Pre-primary to Year 6 use the Primary Connections Program and STEM Science as the basis for their weekly Science learning.

Over the year, students work on units in biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences.

Primary Connections links science with literacy and is an inquiry based learning program.

All classes implement a STEM Learning Project unit which focuses on a problem based approach that engages students in collaborative learning. This problem based learning approach encourages collaborative thinking to solve a pre-defined problem. Problems are interdisciplinary, have a real world context and are open-ended.

Science has three interrelated strands:

Science Understanding

Science as a Human Endeavour

Science Inquiry Skills

 

Together, the three strands of the science curriculum provide students with understanding, knowledge and skills through which they can develop a scientific view of the world. Students are challenged to explore science, its concepts, nature and uses through clearly described inquiry processes.

 

 

Science Understanding

The Science Understanding strand comprises four sub-strands. The content is described by year level. At Merredin College, students study content from each of the strands over the course of each of the years from Year 7 to Year 10.

• Biological sciences
• Chemical sciences
• Earth and space sciences
• Physical science

 

Science as a Human Endeavour

The content in the Science as a Human Endeavour strand is described in two-year bands. There are two sub-strands of Science as a Human Endeavour. These are:

• Nature and development of science
• Use and influence of science

 

Science Inquiry Skills

The content in the Science Inquiry Skills strand is described in two-year bands. There are five sub-strands of Science Inquiry Skills. These are:

• Questioning and predicting
• Planning and conducting
• Processing and analysing data and information.
• Evaluating
• Communicating

CoRE Program

Select students in Year 7/8 and in Year 10 will have the opportunity to participate in the CoRE program. The program encompasses transdisciplinary aspects and is delivered through a contextually-set STEAM project-based learning framework, in student-centred learning environments where diverse groups of student’s team up to communicate/ collaborate closely to spearhead problem-solving and solution development.

Grades achieved by students in Year 10 assist teachers in determining recommendations for subject selection in Year 11.

At Merredin College senior secondary students can choose from the following Science pathways subject to numbers:

ATAR Human Biology

The Human Biology ATAR course gives students a chance to explore what it is to be human—how the human body works, the origins of human variation, inheritance in humans, the evolution of the human species and population genetics. Practical tasks are an integral part of this course and develop a range of laboratory skills; for example, biotechnology techniques.

Human Biology is recommended for ATAR students that have achieved a minimum of a C grade in Year 10 Science.

Units 1 & 2 in Year 11 and Units 3 & 4 in Year 12.

 

General Psychology

In the Psychology General course students will be introduced to psychological knowledge which supports an understanding of the way individuals function in groups. Students learn about well-known psychological models and theories, and the methods used to conduct scientific investigations in the discipline of psychology. Acquiring this foundation of scientific method and critical thinking is a valuable skill which students can apply throughout their study, work and everyday lives.

Units 1 & 2 in Year 11 and Units 3 & 4 in Year 12.

 

ATAR Physics

In the Physics course, students investigate the natural and built world around them in a wide and interesting range of contexts. They discover how we exploit radioactivity in industrial testing and in the treatment of diseases, why we use different materials in heating and cooling systems, how we use electric and magnetic fields in machines, and how our understanding of light and sound waves helps us to communicate. Students will learn how energy and energy transformations can shape the environment from the small scale, in quantum leaps inside an atom’s electron cloud, through the human scale, in vehicles and the human body, to the large scale, in interactions between galaxies. Students have opportunities to develop their investigative skills and use analytical thinking to explain and predict physical phenomena.

To be recommended for ATAR Physics it is essential that students have achieved an A or High-B in both Mathematics and Physics in Year 10.

Units 1 & 2 in Year 11 and Units 3 & 4 in Year 12.

 

Each of the science subjects builds upon students’ science knowledge, understanding and skills acquired from Foundation to Year 10 (F-10). In particular, the science subjects continue to build students’ Science Inquiry Skills and understanding of Science as a Human Endeavour, and each subject continues to develop the relevant ‘key concepts’ that structure the Science Understanding sub-strands.

For more detailed information about each course, go to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) link on this page.