Science is mandatory for all students from Year 7 to Year 10.
In Years 11 and 12, students can choose from different science disciplines, including:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Earth and Environmental Science
- Investigating Science
- Physics.
In Year 12, students who are studying at least one other science subject may also choose to study Science Extension.
Science is a great adventure, challenging us to expand our skills in critical and creative thinking.
Over the centuries, science has developed from the Natural Philosophy of Newton's time to a rigorous future focused process and an evolving body of knowledge, that provides explanations and a framework to understand the world.
At Ku-ring-gai HS students engage with scientific concepts and processes to develop skills as future global citizens.
Year 7-10
All students engage in effective, future focused teaching and authentic learning tasks to:
Foster students' sense of wonder and expand their natural curiosity about the world around them.
Enhance students' confidence in making evidence-based decisions about the influence of science in their lives.
Enable students to confidently respond to needs and opportunities when designing solutions relevant to science in their lives.
Year 11-12
Biology
Biology provides students with a contemporary and coherent understanding.
Chemistry
Chemistry provides students with a contemporary and coherent understanding of matter and its interactions, and attempts to explain and predict events at the atomic and molecular level. Lain the functioning, origins and evolution of living things.
Earth and environmental science
Earth and environmental science aims to provide an understanding of systems and processes in both aquatic and terrestrial environments and to explore changes that have occurred during Earth's history, including the evolution of organisms since the origin of life on Earth.
Physics
Physics aims to reveal the simplicity underlying the complexity of natural phenomena by applying patterns, models (including mathematical ones), principles, theories and laws to explain the physical behaviour of the universe.
Investigating Science (new course in 2018)
The Year 11 course focuses on the centrality of observation in initiating the scientific process and examines the human tendency to draw inferences and make generalisations from these observations. Students learn about the development and use of scientific models and the similarities and differences between scientific theories and laws. In Year 12 students conduct their own scientific investigations and communicate their findings in scientific reports. They scientifically examine a claim and explore the ethical, social, economic and political influences on science and scientific research in the modern world.