TERTIARY & CAREERS PATHWAYS:
This unit focuses on the chemistry of living things and the environment. It explores the importance of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen as the building blocks of the molecules of life, reactions that these take part in and the specific molecules that are key to the living world. There is a focus on the cycling of elements that occurs in the natural system of the Earth and how the change of these within the natural cycles is upsetting a balance in our ecosystem.
Structure of DNA and its role in the inheritance of characteristics from generation to generation is considered. The effects that changing of the environment has on inheritance and how this leads to evolution and living things is also considered.
Contemporary issues in biochemistry, biology and the environment are also explored and the science behind the techniques being developed to overcome these challenges is examined.
While completing the unit students will also undertake an independent student lead investigation and use a variety of instruments to record and graph data in order to identify trends and patterns, form hypotheses and design experiment to test these hypotheses. They will present their findings as a scientific poster.
Learning Standards:
SCIENCE UNDERSTANDING
- Multicellular organisms rely on coordinated and interdependent internal systems to respond to changes to their environment
- The transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next involves DNA and genes
- The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity of living things and is supported by a range of scientific evidence
- Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems
- The atomic structure and properties of elements are used to organise them in the periodic table
- Chemical reactions involve rearranging atoms to form new substances; during a chemical reaction mass is not created or destroyed
- Different types of chemical reactions are used to produce a range of products and can occur at different rates; chemical reactions may be represented by balanced chemical equations
- Chemical reactions, including combustion and the reactions of acids, are important in both non-living and living systems and involve energy transfer
- Global systems, including the carbon cycle, rely on interactions involving the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere
- Scientific understanding, including models and theories, are contestable and are refined over time through a process of review by the scientific community
- Advances in scientific understanding often rely on developments in technology and technological advances are often linked to scientific discoveries
- The values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research
SCIENCE INQUIRY SKILLS
- Students develop questions and hypotheses that can be investigated, design and improve appropriate methods of investigation and collect data using various methods
- They explain how they have considered reliability, precision, safety, fairness and ethics in their methods
- They analyse trends in data, explain relationships between variables and identify sources of error.
- Students evaluate the validity and reliability of claims made in secondary sources with reference to currently held scientific views, the quality of the methodology and the evidence cited
- They construct evidence-based arguments and use appropriate scientific language and representations
ASSESSMENT
Assessment across the semester will include a range of tasks such as:
- Practical Investigations
- Topic Tests
- Extended Research Task
- Examination
Recommendation:
Year 10 Science - Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science or Year 10 Science- Chemistry and Physics are highly recommended for students who wish to undertake VCE Chemistry
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