Science / Year 8 / Science Inquiry Skills / Communicating

Curriculum content descriptions

Communicate ideas, findings and evidence based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS148)

Elaborations
  • using digital technologies to construct a range of text types to present science ideas
  • selecting and using appropriate language and representations to communcate science ideas within a specified text type and for a specified audience
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Creating texts,  Data representation,  Reasoning,  Explanations (Scientific inquiry)

Interactive

iPlan

This resource contains ten IWB flipcharts as well as Flash alternative exercises and models how to plan a scientific investigation, choose the right equipment and follow safe working practices.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: ink chromatography

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of separating ink mixtures using paper chromatography.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Trumpet straw

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of making a straw that can produce vibrations when blown through.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Straw propeller

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of creating a propeller using two bendy straws and a pair of scissors. A simple demonstration of one of Newton's Laws.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Spooky slime

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of making spooky slime with cornflour to produce a substance that is a little like a liquid and a little like a solid.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Relightable candle

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of relighting a candle. This activity is most likely to be done as a teacher demonstration for safety and classroom management reasons, particularly at primary school level. Do this experiment to learn how a candle ...

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Magic rocking candle

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of burning both ends of a balancing candle. This activity is most likely to be done as a teacher demonstration for safety and classroom management reasons, particularly at primary school level.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Levitating balloon

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of levitating a balloon.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Keys on a shoelace

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students to show that keys on a shoelace can do some unexpected things.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Energy in soft drinks

This resource contains information about how to calculate the amount of sugar and number of kilojoules in soft drink and fruit juices and brief explanation for students the effect of consuming too much sugar.

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.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Bubble 07 diversion grenades

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students about the process of carrying out a chemical reaction between bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

Interactive

experiMENTALS: Bouncing balls

This resource contains a materials and instruction list and brief explanation for students to observe what happens when two different sized balls are dropped independently or in vertical contact. The simple explanation relates to transfer of energy.

Video

Working towards a renewable energy future

Listen to electrical engineering student Kulsoom Hussain describe her dream career. What are some of the challenges she says she'll face in trying to achieve her goals? What can you find out about the energy sources used in Australia? How much renewable energy is used to power our country?

Video

Working as an ecologist

This is a colour video clip in which marine ecologist Dr Candida Savage of the University of Otago in New Zealand talks about her work, what led her to it and why she enjoys doing it. She explains how her research involves a variety of experiences, requiring creativity and collaboration with other scientists in many different ...

Text

Work sample Year 8 Science: Bouncing ball

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 8 Science. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

Interactive

Wild ride: get a grip

Investigate the role of friction in performance of bicycle tyres. Test how the type of tread affects grip and speed. Choose tyres best suited to track and weather conditions in a time trial. This learning object is one in a series of four objects.

Video

Why tag a starfish?

This is a colour video clip in which biologist Dr Miles Lamare of the University of Otago talks about the advantages of using electronic tags to study sea stars. He explains how the tags operate, the data they provide and how unusual it is for them to be used on invertebrates. Sequences showing tags on sea stars and other ...

Text

Where do volcanoes occur?

This is an online resource about where volcanoes occur, part of a larger resource about volcanoes. It provides: important information about the occurrence of volcanoes close to the Earth's tectonic plate boundaries; a map showing the Earth's tectonic plate boundaries; and, near the bottom of the screen, a link to a map ...

Video

What is an ecologist?

This is a colour video clip in which marine ecologist Associate Professor Stephen Wing of the University of Otago talks about the work of ecologists. He gives an overview of the types of questions that are investigated by ecologists and explains why he enjoys his work. Photographs of marine organisms and ecologists at work ...