This elaboration provides students with an opportunity to develop this core Science Inquiry Skill whilst addressing intercultural science inquiry skills relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures within the context of the following content description(s) from the Science Understanding and/or Science as a Human Endeavour strand(s).
Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (ACSSU176)
All matter is made of atoms that are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons; natural radioactivity arises from the decay of nuclei in atoms (ACSSU177)
People use scientific knowledge to evaluate whether they accept claims, explanations or predictions, and advances in science can affect people’s lives, including generating new career opportunities (ACSHE160)
A potential way to approach this content description is:
Important data and information regarding scientific claims and explanations from many fields of science is stored, communicated and accessed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, for example, in language, songs, pictorial histories and technologies. Ancient petroglyphs and rock paintings record and communicate a wealth of information that provide measurable and rigorous records of the past. Students could consult pictorial histories or rock paintings that depict mega-fauna and the published radiocarbon dating data of these depictions in regard to Australia’s First Nations peoples and interactions with mega-fauna.