Write and create texts to communicate ideas, findings and arguments for specific purposes and audiences

1. Purpose, audience, language and text features (E1)

Scientific texts can inform, explain, report, persuade or argue. Infer the intended audience from vocabulary, tone, assumed knowledge, amount of detail and representations such as diagrams, graphs, headings and captions.

2. Investigation reports (E2)

A strong report communicates the aim, hypothesis, materials, reproducible method, results, discussion and conclusion. Use tables and graphs when they reveal patterns. Discuss accuracy and whether another person could repeat the method and obtain comparable findings.

3. Dichotomous-key app prototype (E3)

Use pairs of clear, mutually exclusive choices based on observable features. For a community audience, keep questions concise, navigation obvious and images or icons purposeful.

4. Letter to the editor (E4)

State a clear environmental viewpoint, support it with relevant evidence, use respectful persuasive language and finish with a realistic call to action. Persuasion does not justify exaggerating what the evidence shows.

5. Explaining seasons to a younger audience (E5)

Use simple language and a helpful diagram. Earth rotates to produce day and night. Earth’s axis is tilted; as Earth revolves around the Sun, each hemisphere receives changing sunlight angles and day lengths across the year, producing the seasons.

6. Particle-theory animation (E6)

Animation is useful because it can represent movement and change over time. Show solids as closely packed particles vibrating, liquids as close particles moving past one another and gases as widely spaced particles moving freely. Use labels or narration so the motion is interpreted correctly.

• E1: infer purpose/audience and identify supporting language/text features
• E2: investigation reports with diagrams, graphs, data, accuracy and reproducibility
• E3: prototype a community dichotomous-key app
• E4: letter to the editor about a local environmental issue
• E5: informative text for younger learners about Earth’s tilt, rotation, revolution and seasons
• E6: particle-theory animation for peers

1. What determines how a scientific text should be written? Its purpose, intended audience and the evidence or idea being communicated.
2. Can you simplify science for younger readers? Yes—simplify language and support, but preserve the scientific meaning.
3. What makes a method reproducible? Clear, measurable steps with equipment, quantities, units and controlled conditions.
4. When should a graph be used? When a graph reveals a pattern, comparison or relationship more clearly than prose alone.
5. What makes dichotomous-key choices effective? Two objective, mutually exclusive options based on observable features.
6. What makes a letter to the editor scientifically responsible? A clear position supported by relevant evidence without overstating certainty.
7. Why are captions useful? They tell the audience what a visual shows and how it relates to the scientific message.
8. What causes the seasons? Earth’s axial tilt combined with its revolution around the Sun changes sunlight angle and day length through the year.
9. Why is animation useful for particle theory? It can show motion, spacing and changes of state dynamically.
10. How do you evaluate whether communication works? Check whether the intended audience can follow the structure, understand the language and interpret the science accurately.

• Changing scientific facts while trying to simplify language.
• Using visuals as decoration rather than evidence or explanation.
• Calling repeated measurements “accurate” just because they are close together.
• Writing a method too vaguely for another person to repeat.
• Using subjective or overlapping dichotomous-key choices.
• Using persuasive language that claims more than the evidence supports.
• Saying Earth’s changing distance from the Sun causes the seasons.

Purpose & Audience

• Purpose: inform, explain, report, persuade or argue.
• Audience: younger students, peers, public, experts or decision-makers.
• Adapt vocabulary, tone, detail, structure and visuals—not scientific truth.

Investigation Reports

• Aim → hypothesis → materials → method → results → discussion → conclusion.
• Use diagrams/tables/graphs only when they help communicate evidence.
• Discuss accuracy, anomalies, limitations and reproducibility.

Dichotomous Keys

• Two choices per step.
• Use observable, non-overlapping features.
• Prototype for users: clear buttons, simple navigation, useful images/icons.

Letters to the Editor

• Viewpoint + evidence + reasoning + respectful persuasion + call to action.

Younger Audiences

• Shorter sentences, define key words, use purposeful diagrams and relatable examples.

Animations

• Storyboard first; use movement only when it represents the science; label or narrate what viewers should notice.

• AC9S7I07 — Evidence-based arguments
• AC9S7I06 — Evaluate methods, conclusions and claims