Slide 1

Australian Curriculum Science 11-12the draft curriculum

This presentation will provide you with a brief overview of the content structure of the draft Australian Curriculum Science in the Senior Years.

The Department of Education and Training is providing an opportunity for you to inform its feedback to the Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority (ACARA) on the quality of the proposed content descriptions provided in these documents.1Proposed 11-12 Science Courses

The draft senior secondary science curriculum documents were released for consultation on 14 May.

Only the science content is available for consultation at this time.

Consultation on this content will close on 30 July.

Senior secondary achievement standards will be developed during 2010 and will be available for consultation in 2011.

The draft Senior Sciences documents for Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science and Physics are now available on the ACARA website. ACARA have only provided Content Descriptions for each of the four courses at this point in time.

The Achievement Standards will be developed during the remainder of this year and should be open for consultation early in 2011.

You must register on the ACARA website before you are able to access the documents or provide feedback directly to ACARA through its consultation website. If you have already registered as part of the K-10 consultation you may use the same login and password.

2Current and Proposed 11-12 Science Courses

Current Board of Studies developed coursesProposed Australian Curriculum coursesBiologyBiologyChemistryChemistryEarth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental SciencePhysicsPhysicsSenior ScienceThe existing NSW course could continue to be offered by schools

ACARA have developed four courses for the Senior Years - Australian Curriculum: Science.

These are Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science and Physics. Each of these courses will replace the current equivalent NSW Board of Studies syllabuses.

ACARA does not plan to develop a Senior Science Course. ACARAs advice suggests that where there is no equivalent course offered by them then NSW will be able to continue to offer its own state developed courses such as Senior Science. Rules relating to the study of Senior Science in conjunction with any of the Australian Curriculum courses will have to be considered by the NSW Board of Studies once the Australian Curriculum is finalised.3Course structure

Each course is comprised of 4 units of 50-60 hours duration studied during a 2 year period.The four units were developed such that there is conceptual progression (re level of difficulty/ appropriateness) as students move from unit 1 to unit 4Achievement standards for each course for each year of schooling will accompany the final documents to support planning, programming and assessment.

Each of the four science courses has been developed around the same structure, with each course being comprised of four units. Each Course is to be studied over Years 11 to12.

The Curriculum writers have developed content within each unit that could be addressed within 50 60 indicative hours. It is expected that students should be able to complete the total course in 240 indicative hours (120 hours in Year 11 and 120 hours in Year 12).

ACARA have indicated that while the units have not been developed as a sequential course of study the proposed Year 12 units (3 & 4) are at a conceptually higher level than the units to be studied in Year 11 (units 1 & 2).

The Years 11-12 courses are underpinned by the K-10 Curriculum and should demonstrate a clear continuum of learning from Years 9 and 10.4SemesterSemesterSemesterSemesterBiologyChemistryEarth and Environmental SciencePhysicsUnit 1 : Cells and the functioning organismUnit 2: Change and survivalUnit 3: Cells and systems in actionUnit 4: Heredity and changeUnit 1: Chemical patterns and reactionsUnit 2: Chemicals in the environmentUnit 3: Using chemical processesUnit 4: Chemical analysis and synthesisUnit 1: Origins and interactionsUnit 2: The dynamic EarthUnit 3: Life through timeUnit 4 Managing environmental changeUnit 1: Motion and energyUnit 2: Radiation and nuclear physicsUnit 3: Space scienceUnit 4: Physical models and relationshipsYear11Year12Organisation of the curriculum

For each of the courses of study there are four mandatory units to be completed. There are no optional units provided within the structure of the senior years Australian Curriculum: Science, unlike the existing NSW syllabuses.

It is assumed at this point in time that students must complete all four units within a course structure if they are to satisfy course requirements.

Student may take more than one science course concurrently.

It is unknown if there will be a limit placed on the maximum number of science courses a student may undertake.

Students who undertake the study of more than one science course concurrently will be exposed to learning that is interrelated and integrated across the different courses.5Course structureCourse content within each unit is organised under three strands: Science understandingScience as a human endeavourScience inquiry skills

The content within each strand supports the learning in the other two strands.

The content descriptions provided identify the mandatory content for each of the four courses.

The structure of the content within the Senior Years curriculum in science is consistent with the structure used in the draft K-10 Curriculum.

The content for each unit is organised under three, interrelated strands. These being:Science understandingScience as a human endeavourScience inquiry skills

The curriculum structure will require teachers to integrate the content from the three strands into their teaching and learning programs to ensure that the content from all three strands is developed in an authentic, engaging and interrelated way. This process is not dissimilar to the way secondary teachers are required to work with the current NSW Years 7 -10 Science Syllabus.

The senior years curriculum does not identify Content Elaborations these are possibly redundant in these documents due to the greater level of specificity provided within the content descriptions. 6Course Structurethe skills of being a scientistsocial and ethical impactapplications historical aspects career pathsconceptsprinciplesLawstheoriesmodels

The Australian Curriculum: Science is organised around three interrelated strands: Science inquiry skills; Science as a human endeavour; and Science understanding.

The purpose and intent of the content within the three strands can be described as:

Science Inquiry: which involves posing questions; planning; conducting and critiquing investigations; collecting, analysing and interpreting evidence; and communicating findings

Science as Human Endeavour: which involves examining the impact of science on social and ethical issues; current and future applications of science; historical aspects of science and career paths

Science Understanding: which involves developing knowledge and understanding of facts, concepts, principles, laws, theories and models that have been established by scientists over time

7Content Description structure:Analyse and evaluate information relating to earth and environmental science, including: researching and synthesising information from a range of sources using and interpreting models and simulations to aid understanding of earth and environmental science concepts (for example, the origin of the universe, the hole in the ozone layer) evaluating the scientific accuracy of claims in advertising and the media using evidence as the primary criterion for decisions about the validity of suggested ideas and arguments.

As mentioned the Senior years documents do not identify a specific set of Content Elaborations as seen in the K-10 document.

The example content description provided here clearly shows a much greater level of internal specificity as compared to those provided in the K-10 document.

The mandatory curriculum is identified through the suite of content descriptions provided.

An important question for us to consider will be whether the structure of the content descriptions provide sufficient clarity for teachers in relation to the depth and breath required in their treatment of the curriculum. Do they provide sufficient detail to enable the development of engaging and authentic learning experiences for students.

8Delivery options

Students would complete a course by undertaking all 4 units identified within the course structure

Students may do more than one science course concurrently, and if they did so they would find common concepts developed across the courses.e.g. Generation of energy may be considered from both a Chemistry and a Physics perspective.

The NSW Board of Studies will provide advice on course and accreditation requirements for the Higher School Certificate once the final curriculum is released.

The opportunities within and flexibility of a unit or semester course structure needs to be considered as it may or may not suit individual school organisation. There will be structural and organisational arrangements to consider as they may impact on staffing, timetabling, delivery models, professional learning etc.9Key questions

The following questions may help you focus your own analysis of the courses. These would apply equally to each of the science courses developed.

You might find it helpful to broadly consider only two or three of these questions.

Alternatively, you might prefer to address all of the questions by examining in detail an area of the curriculum that you know causes problems for the students in your school.

It is recommended that Science faculties allocate some faculty time to discuss the draft curriculum.

10Do the courses cater for a range of students such as those who take the NSW courses now?Is there sufficient flexibility to tailor curriculum to suit students interests, needs and abilities?Is this a curriculum that will prepare students for the future?Is there adequate quality and rigour in the curriculum?Does the curriculum provide adequate prescription for teachers?

Additional questions for evaluating curriculum

While you will obviously have many other questions in relation to the proposed Senior Years Curriculum for Science we provide some general questions which may further help in generating discussion in relation to these documents.

Please feel free to use these question as you see fit in driving your examination of these important documents.11To register for the forum:http://currk12.janison.com/curriculum/register/register.htmIf you have any problems with registering please contact Chris Dorbis via email or telephone 98867496.If you have been issued a password, please click on the following link to enter the forum.

To enter the forum:http://currk12.janison.com/toolbox/desktop/logon.aspThe latest version of the Australian Science senior years curriculum and this PowerPoint are available in the forum.

Online forum

You are encouraged to find time to engage with the draft Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science and Physics senior years documents and to participate in the Department's consultation process.

It is only through considered and quality advice received from teachers that we can provide the depth of advice needed to ensure we drive the development of final curriculum documents which are able to support high quality teaching and learning of science in NSW.

The instructions provided in this slide will assist you to access the online forum which is a useful way of participating in the feedback process.12If all else fails.........If you encounter difficulties accessing the various avenues for consultation, simply email your comments to:glen.sawle@det.nsw.edu.auorrichard.morant@det.nsw.edu.au orFax your comments to (02) 9886 7154Consultation Science 11-12

If all else fails .......

Email us, call us, just let us know your thoughts and concerns.

Thank you for your time and for your input into consultation on the draft Senior Years Curriculum Science.We look forward to hearing from you in the near future.13