Year 11 Investigative Science
11SCIN Course DescriptionTeacher in Charge: Mrs C. Phillips.
Entry CriteriaYear 11 Investigative Science is a limited entry course.
Students must select 11SCI Core Science as well as 11SCIN to ensure a strong foundation for sciences in Year 12.
Due to limited numbers accepted into the course, students will need to show a thorough understanding of Junior Science concepts. Students must aim to have an overall level of performance at Excellence level in Year 10, along with strong literacy and mathematical skills.
The final decision on entry into Year 11 Investigative Science will:
- occur after the End of Year Junior School Examinations and
- depend on academic results from Year 9 and Year 10
Year 11 Investigative Science
Year 11 Investigative Science is designed to develop higher level practical and investigation skills for students considering extension sciences in Year 12. The material in the course is both complementary and supplementary to the concepts covered in the 11 Science Core and Core Extension options.
Students must select 11 Science Core as an option before selecting 11 Investigative Science as their second option of Science.
Sophisticated concepts from Biology, Chemistry and Physics will be studied in greater depth, while undertaking more challenging experimental techniques and performing in-depth analysis of results using both quantitative and qualitative viewpoints.
Students who undertake this course should have a high level of literacy and be very confident in their mathematical skills, particularly in algebra and graphical analysis.
FAQs:
When will I find out if I am accepted into this course?
After the End of Year Junior Examinations at the end of November.
Course Overview
Term 1
Students begin by developing their Chemistry practical skills and calculating yields. The second part of the term focuses on advanced plant processes including orientation responses and transport. This complements the study of plants in Core Science.
Term 2
Students will study heat and heat transfer during the first half of the term, while practically measuring the effects that heat has on different substances in different situations. Their findings will then be linked to biological and chemical contexts.
The term is rounded off with a practical-based Chemistry topic involving concentrations and volumetric analysis.
Term 3
The beginning of Term 3 sees students undertaking practical investigations in a Physics context and analysing their results in a mathematical way.
The second half of Term 3 is devoted to investigating the life process of nutrition in different mammals while developing laboratory skills to investigate food and digestion in detail.
Term 4
It is important for students to recognise that individual sciences do not stand alone, with the understanding of one science impacting and/or building on the knowledge and observations in other fields. This final topic looks at radioactivity and nuclear processes through the three different lenses of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Pathway
Level 2 Biology - Extension, Level 2 Chemistry - Extension, Level 2 Physics - Extension