Senior school Stage 6 science courses
Biology
The Preliminary course incorporates the study of the mechanisms and systems living things use to obtain, transport and use material for their own growth and repair; biotic and abiotic features of the environment and the relationships between and interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem; the evolution of life on Earth; and the effects of global changes that took place during the formation of modern Australia on the diversity of Australian biota. The Preliminary course includes a field study related to a local terrestrial or aquatic environment.
The HSC course builds upon the Preliminary course. It examines the processes and structures that plants and animals, especially humans, have developed to maintain a constant internal environment and the way in which the continuity of life is assumed by the inheritance of characteristics from generation to generation.
This course requires a strong scientific literacy to cope with the significant volume of reading and production of scientific reports.
PRELIMINARY COURSE
- Patterns in Nature
- A Local Ecosystem
- Life on Earth
- Evolution of Australian Biota
HSC COURSE
CORE TOPICS:
- Maintaining a Balance
- Blueprint of Life
- The Search for Better Health
ONE OPTION FROM THE FOLLOWING:
- Communication
- Biotechnology
- Genetics - The Code Broken?
- The Human Story
- Biochemistry