Science / Year 8 / Science Inquiry Skills / Questioning and predicting

Curriculum content descriptions

Identify questions and problems that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on scientific knowledge (ACSIS139)

Elaborations
  • considering whether investigation using available resources is possible when identifying questions or problems to investigate
  • recognising that the solution of some questions and problems requires consideration of social, cultural, economic or moral aspects rather than or as well as scientific investigation
  • using information and knowledge from their own investigations and secondary sources to predict the expected results from an investigation
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Predictions (Science),  Research questions

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Disappearing coin trick

This resource contains a materials, instructions and brief explanation for students about the process of rotating hands to make a coin seem to dislodge.

Video

Different paper plane designs

How many different paper plane designs are there? Lots! Watch as Dylan Parker, paper plane expert, demonstrates some of his favourites. Notice the way the different shapes and features of the planes cause them to move through the air in different ways. Which one do you like the most? Why not have a go at making something similar?

Online

Game changers and change makers: resource book of ideas for National Science Week 2018

This resource book includes ideas to support students’ involvement in investigating, exploring, experimenting, designing, creating and communicating their understandings about game changers and change makers from the past who have solved some of the seemingly unsolvable problems, to game changers and change makers of today, ...

Image

Gold nugget

This is a gold nugget (approximately 3.4 cm x 2.2 cm), which was probably found in about 1865 on a goldfield in Otago (in the southern South Island of New Zealand).

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Phar Lap

This is a photograph showing the mounted hide of Phar Lap, a champion racehorse in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was a large chestnut-coloured gelding who stood 17.1 hands (about 174 cm) tall.

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Cranbourne meteorite

This is a colour photograph of an iron meteorite called 'The Cranbourne No 2 mass'.

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Feather fossil

This is a colour photograph of a feather fossilised in mudstone. This specimen is from the Koonwarra fossil bed in the South Gippsland region of Victoria. This fossil shows detail of the feather structure, including the central shaft and attached barbs.

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Male and female thylacines, 1841

This is a 36 cm x 55 cm hand-coloured lithograph of a pair of thylacines (‘Thylacinus cynocephalus’), commonly called Tasmanian tigers, against a background of small bushes and an open plain.

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Zygomaturus fossil skeleton

This is a colour photograph of a 'Zygomaturus tasmanicus' fossil skeleton. The skeleton is a museum specimen and has been braced with metal rods. It is displayed in a standing posture.

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Bivalve mollusc

This is a colour photograph of a collection of bivalve molluscs ('Theora lubrica').

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Phar Lap's skeleton

This is the skeleton of Phar Lap, the famous racehorse, which was born in New Zealand, raced mostly in Australia and died in unexplained circumstances in the United States in 1932.

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Southern gastric brooding frog

This is a colour photograph of a preserved southern gastric brooding frog ('Rheobatrachus silus'). It is a museum specimen viewed from the front.

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Sea louse

This is a colour photograph of a sea louse ('Natatolana woodjonesi').

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Great pampa finch

This is a colour photograph of a preserved great pampa finch ('Embernagra platensis'). The tail of this specimen is missing. Identification labels and cataloguing numbers are attached to the specimen.

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An exhibition home made of fibrolite, c1930s

This is a black-and-white photograph of the exterior of an exhibition home made of fibrolite (fibro-cement) that was constructed by James Hardie and Co Ltd (now known as James Hardie Industries). The street outside the home is crowded with people, some of whom have come to view the fibrolite home. The photograph measures ...

Image

Trilobite fossil

This is a colour photograph of a fossil trilobite of the genus 'Kolihapeltis'.

Interactive

Earth rotation: night and day

Watch an animation of the Earth rotating in space showing day and night, the equinox where locations on Earth experience close to equal hours of daytime and night-time (12 hours) and views of the Earth from above the North and South Poles. Turn an animated model of the Earth to explore how rotation is related to night and ...

Image

Giant sea spider

This is a colour photograph of a giant sea spider ('Dodecolopoda mawsoni') set against a black background. This is a preserved specimen that has lost its original red colouration and faded to orange due to the preserving liquid. The long legs, small body and bright colouration are displayed in the image.

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Fish fossil

This is a colour photograph of an ancient fish ('Wadeichthys oxyops') fossilised in mudstone. This specimen is from the Koonwarra fossil bed in South Gippsland, Victoria. The fins, tail and body scales of the fish are clearly visible. Museum cataloguing numbers are written on the rock.

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Paradise parrot

This is a colour photograph of a preserved paradise parrot ('Psephotus pulcherrimus'). It is a museum specimen displayed perching on a branch. The bright plumage colours for which it is well known are clearly visible.