Year 7
In year 7 Science, students explored various scientific disciplines and how science affects everyday life. They studied the scientific method, enabling students to design and carry out practical investigations in the laboratory, considering safety, fairness and accuracy. They analysed variables to be changed and measured in their experiments.
Students have also investigated differences within and between groups of organisms, focusing on how classification helps organise this diversity. They studied interactions between organisms in ecosystems, observing how human activity affects these interactions.
Year 8
In year 8 Science, students studied cells as the basic units of living things, exploring their specialised structures and functions. They investigated mitosis as the process of cell division. Students also investigated multicellular organisms and organ systems that carry out specialised functions.
Students investigated principles of chemistry and investigated the properties of the different states of matter namely how solid, liquid and gas particles are arranged. They investigated the differences between elements found on the periodic table, the forms in which they take, their chemical properties, how they interact to form compounds and the way in which they are spread in different mixtures. They discovered that chemical change involves substances reacting to form new substances.
Year 9
In year 9 Science, students studied how the requirements for life are provided through the coordinated function of body systems such as the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, nervous and excretory systems. They investigated how internal systems work together to respond to changes in their environment, identifying responses from both nervous and endocrine systems. They studied the stimulus-response model and reflex actions, identifying receptors, effectors and responses.
Year 10
In year 10 Science, students studied the transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next. They investigated the relationship between DNA, genes and chromosomes and recognised that genetic information passed on to offspring is from both parents by meiosis and fertilisation. Students identified patterns of inheritance of simple dominant/recessive characteristics and predicted simple ratios of offspring genotypes and phenotypes in genetic crosses (Punnet squares). They also studied DNA and chromosomal mutations.
Students explored the structure of atoms in terms of electron shells explaining how the electronic structure of an atom determines its position in the periodic table and its properties. They also studied the formation of chemical compounds by investigating ionic and covalent bonding.