What students learn in AC9S7H02
This unit helps students build a clear, usable understanding of Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development.... The goal is not to memorise one answer pattern. Students should be able to explain the idea, recognise it in a new example and apply it in a short practice or worksheet task.
- Start with the main idea: investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development of scientific knowledge.
- Use concrete examples, pictures, oral explanation and short written responses before moving to independent practice.
- exploring how the personal beliefs of a scientist may influence the questions they choose to pursue and how they investigate those questions, such as Richard Levins, whose political views led him to focus on population ecology, or Joseph Rotblat, a physicist who refused to work on science that might lead to development of an atomic bomb considering why it is important to recognise that different people in society have different perspectives on the introduction of biological controls to eradicate an invasive species
- Finish with mixed questions so students must choose the correct strategy rather than copy the last example.
Curriculum coverage and elaborations
The content description and elaborations below show the curriculum ideas taught in this unit. Items marked as teaching context support lesson planning but may not appear in the initial eight-question activity.
- Content description: investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development of scientific knowledge
- E1: investigating classification systems used by First Nations Australians and how they differ in context and use from those used by contemporary science (teaching context)
- E2: investigating how First Nations Australians have developed sustainable harvesting practices and cultural protocols based on deep ecological understandings (teaching context)
- E3: exploring how the personal beliefs of a scientist may influence the questions they choose to pursue and how they investigate those questions, such as Richard Levins, whose political views led him to focus on population ecology, or Joseph Rotblat, a physicist who refused to work on science that might lead to development of an atomic bomb
- E4: considering why it is important to recognise that different people in society have different perspectives on the introduction of biological controls to eradicate an invasive species
- E5: exploring the work of Wang Zhenyi, an acclaimed female scholar of 18th-century China, including her experiments in studying lunar eclipses
- E6: exploring how David Unaipon, a Ngarrindjeri man from Coorong region of South Australia, used his cultural knowledge and understanding of the aerodynamic properties of boomerangs to conceptualise a ‘vertical lift flying machine’ in 1914
How to use this unit
Read the topic guide, use the teacher slide for instruction, then complete the Worksheet, Practice and Test. These three activities use the same eight-question unit bank.
Teacher resource
AC9S7H02 teacher slide
Use this one-page PDF to introduce the key idea, vocabulary and teaching sequence before students begin the activities.
Open teacher slide (PDF)Common mistakes to watch for
- Describing what is seen without connecting it to a question, pattern or prediction.
- Using everyday words only and missing simple scientific vocabulary.
- Changing more than one thing in an investigation, which makes the comparison unfair.
International curriculum mapping
This table gives closest-topic mapping for search and planning. The Australian Curriculum code is exact; overseas entries are broad equivalents because each jurisdiction structures outcomes differently.
| Region | Curriculum | Closest mapping |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Australian Curriculum v9.0 | AC9S7H02 — investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development of scientific knowledge |
| Victoria | Victorian Curriculum F-10 | Year 7 Science: closest match in Nature and development of science. Use this page as a VIC-aligned practice and worksheet reference. |
| NSW | NSW Curriculum | Stage 4 Science: closest content focus for Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development... and related outcomes. |
| United States | Common Core / NGSS | Grade 7 NGSS science closest topic match for Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development.... |
| England / UK | National Curriculum | Key Stage 3 / Year 7: closest programme-of-study match for Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development.... |
| Canada | Provincial and territory curricula | Grade 7 closest topic match. Canada varies by province, so use this as a broad Ontario/BC-style learning outcome reference. |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Curriculum | Level 4 Science: closest achievement-objective topic for Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development.... |
| India | NCERT / CBSE | Class 7 closest NCERT/CBSE topic match for Investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development.... |