Reservoir West Primary School

SCIENCE

RESPONSIBILTY: Mrs Sandra Marino

This domain is taught by classroom teachers and includes:

• Classroom science activities
• Visiting Science shows and excursions

To be human is to be curious about the world we live in, to wonder why it is that way, and to ask about our place in it. A fundamental goal for science education is to stimulate, respond to and nourish such curiosity, wonder and questioning. Science provides us with one view of the world – a view that changes as our knowledge and understanding of science evolves. It is becoming increasingly important that students understand these challenges and redirections, and the implications of these for their own life choices, the environment and the community (local and global) in which they live. Building students’ science capability is critical to help them develop the skills and understanding necessary to meet these challenges and make responsible, informed choices. A major goal of science education is to develop citizens who are capable of engaging in informed debate about science and its applications.

The Science domain is organised into six sections, one for each level of achievement from Level 1 to Level 6. Each level includes a learning focus statement and, from Level 3, a set of standards organised by dimension

Standards in the Science domain are organised in two dimensions. The development of Science knowledge and understanding necessarily involves conceptual and experiential understanding of Science at work, and understanding of the ways the concepts, theories and models of science are used throughout the society in which students live. Science at work involves students learning the processes of science through the ways they undertake and reflect on their own investigations and those of others.

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Science Knowledge and Understanding

This dimension focuses on building student understanding of the overarching conceptual ideas of science. These include understanding:

• the nature of the similarities between, and the diversity of, living things and their sustainable relationships with each other and their environment
• concepts related to matter - its properties and uses, and the production of different substances through chemical change
• concepts of energy and force as a way of explaining physical phenomena
• the place of the Earth in time and space and the interactions between the Earth and its atmosphere
• how scale is important in relating structure to function at microscopic and macroscopic levels.

Science at Work

This dimension focuses on students experiencing and researching how people work with and through science. Students learn to be curious and to use scientific understanding and processes to find answers to their questions. They design and pursue investigations ethically and safely; generate, validate and critique evidence; analyse and interpret ideas and link them with existing understanding; work and reason with scientific models and communicate their findings and ideas to others. They identify and practise the underlying values, skills and attributes of science.

SAFETY

Students will be exposed to potentially hazardous materials and practices when undertaking scientific activities and investigations. Beginning with their first year at school, students are made aware of safe practices and are encouraged to act responsibly when conducting investigations. As students progress through their schooling they develop skills in the safe use of scientific apparatus, including heating and electrical equipment, the safe handling of living and non-living organic materials and the correct use and disposal of chemicals.

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VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING STANDARDS

This table outlines where a student is expected to be at a particular time in his/her educational journey. Most students will achieve the expected standard. Some will achieve to a higher standard. Some may not reach the expected standard.

Click to view a description of the behaviours that a student should display at each progression point in Science at Levels 3 and 4.

A student’s achievement is reported to parents at June and December. Click for an explanation of the Report Card.

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