Science

Definition and rationale

Scientifically literate people are interested in and understand the world around them; engage in the discourses of and about science; are able to identify questions, investigate, and draw evidence-based conclusions; are sceptical and questioning of claims made by others about scientific matters; and make informed decisions about the environment and their own health and well-being

Goodrum, D., Hackling, M., & Rennie, L. (2001). The status and quality of teaching and learning of science in Australian Schools. Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra.

The study of science establishes a place in the curriculum for the innate human desire to understand the world in which we live. It affords learners the opportunity to observe, to wonder, to question, to investigate and to explain their surroundings.

Major outcomes

Science education does more than help students reach a scientific understanding of their world. It provides them with the skills and cognitive abilities to access an ever-expanding body of knowledge. Learners use scientific knowledge, curiosity and intuition to investigate the world and to test and confirm (or challenge) their understandings, they apply their scientific knowledge to make responsible and informed decisions about real-world issues. A scientifically literate person is equipped to become an active, informed citizen who can confidently contribute to debates and make reasoned judgements about moral, ethical and social issues and the role of science and technology.

From Years 1 to 9, students come to know and to use science as:

Ä a human endeavour

Ä a way of knowing

Ä a way of working

Ä an organised body of knowledge

Ä having an ethical dimension.

Science influences society through its world view as well as through the way that societal challenges or social priorities influence the development of scientific research. Science education highlights the need for informed, evidence-based decision-making about current and future applications of science that impact on society and the environment and on other social and ethical issues. The pervasive role of scientific understanding and scientific processes in shaping our society and economy means that the study of science can provide access to a wide variety of career opportunities.

While people involved in science seek to be objective, they are part of the world they study, so their observations and inferences are influenced by their prior experiences, values and understandings. Science knowledge has been influenced and constrained by societies as people from different backgrounds and cultures experience and interpret their environment differently. Science education should assist students to appreciate the human aspect of science and how it has shaped and been shaped by societies and cultures.

Science is a body of knowledge, developed through human observations, inferences and argument. Those arguments are built upon a framework of scientific concepts, explanations and theories. Those ‘big ideas’ of science are typically grouped in major areas of study such as matter and materials, energy and change, living things and their environments and our earth and its place in space. Increasingly, modern science investigations and theories range across two or more of traditional divisions. Topics for study embedded in meaningful and relevant contexts for learners will provide the opportunity to refine understandings within and across those divisions.

Through studying science students should understand:

Ä how the Earth and universe impact on human endeavour

Ä the biology of living things, including themselves, and the relationships and interdependence of living organisms

Ä the structure, properties and uses of materials and how materials can be modified and changed to satisfy needs

Ä the vital concept of energy its sources and applications, and its impact on our quality of life.

The nature and practice of science has given rise to values that in turn govern good scientific practice. Those values include openness to new ideas, intellectual honesty, critical and sceptical evaluation of data and arguments, and ways of working that are ethical, fair and respectful of others. Science education aims to encourage in students a willingness to engage with, articulate and use accepted ethical practices in their own research.

It demands of students’ responsibility for their own and others' safety by following and explaining safety procedures appropriate to the level at which they are working.

Summary of performance required at different junctures

Children enter the early years of schooling with a tendency to question everything around them. An appropriate science program will build upon those interests and address topics growing out of the personal experience of the learners.

Through the middle phase, science education should continue to foster students’ curiosity, imagination and wonder while increasingly focussing the curriculum on those categories of questions that are acknowledged as ‘scientific’ and introducing learners to the currently acknowledged answers (at a suitable level of sophistication).

An appropriate program for students moving into the secondary years must balance the need to equip all learners with the tools for effective citizenship in a world increasingly influenced by the practice of science and its products, and to establish a sound foundation for further study for those who will choose to enter science-related career pathways.

For more information contact your Head of Campus.