Level 2 General Science
12SCI Course DescriptionTeacher in Charge: Mrs S. Fairweather.
Recommended Prior LearningAchieved grade in 2 or more of Year 11 Internal Science Level 1 Achievement Standards OR 1 of the external Level 1 Science exams. Consideration will be given to students interested in enrolling on this Year 11(I) Science course in consultation with the Teacher in Charge (Mrs Fairweather) and the HOF (Mr Wood).
Year 12 Science is an Achievement Standards, based on Level 7 of the Science Curriculum document. This Course encourages students to relate what they have learnt in class to the world they live in, supporting report and writing skills. Applying content knowledge from research skills, relating this to biology, physics and Earth & space science, provides students with a wide range of experiences in senior sciences and to the world around them. Completing this course will allow students to select Year 13 Senior Science the following year. This is an internally assessed course, providing students with a range of opportunities within the different branches of science: Earth and space science, biology, physics and senior sciences.
Course Overview
Term 1
Introduction to Level 2 Senior Science: Getting ready for report writing, referencing and bibliography, setting you up for the course and course content, scientific principles and lab protocols.
AS 91169:
What forces affect Vehicle Crumple Zones (VCZ)? How do different areas of a vehicle deform upon impact? What is the point of having a VCZ? You can learn how the principles of physics affect how the chassis, body of a car and how crumple zones are affected by collisions. Using practical and visual aids, can you prevent injury to your passengers with the design of your own crumple zone?
Term 2
AS 91188:
What are mokonui (dinosaurs) and why aren't there any on Earth today? Where did they go? What actually happened? You will find out what the different theories are that lead to dinosaur extinction and the rise of whāngote (mammals).
AS 91160:
This Level 2 Biology achievement standard gives you a microscopic look at a variety of organisms and their life processes. Mātauranga koiora help us understand what is happening on both a microscopic level and larger. What can you learn from this standard?: How to prepare microscope slides; Viewing, identifying and recording cell structures; What a cell's specialised features are and what they enable it to do; Using plants and microscopic organisms to support your investigations.
Term 3
AS 91172:
Do you know what an FAQ is? What is nuclear power and how is it generated? How is can nuclear power beneficial to us? How does is impact the environment? How can we find out more about nuclear physics (mātai ahupūngao karihi)? These are all relevant questions relating to how nuclear power is generated, used, how it helps society and what the negative impacts are. You will find out what FAQ’s are and how they can help someone find out more information.
AS 91190:
How do rauropi (organisms) survive in extreme environments like our deep moana? What factors allow them to do this? Is this adaptations or urutaunga? How have organisms evolved to survive in such an extreme deep ocean environment. We can learn all about this topic by using the Angler Fish to help us.
Term 4
There will be time available to check that all of your assessments are up-to-date.
Pathway
Senior Sciences
Contributions and Equipment/Stationery2B8 or 2B5 Exercise book
Highlighter
Pens (black and blue) - students must bring and be responsible for their own pens for the duration of this course.