Scientific Inquiry
Questioning, planning, measuring and the logic of a controlled investigation.
- Scientific Research Methods and Inquiry
- Data Collection and Analysis
- Cause and Effect
NSW Investigating Science Stage 6 structure, expressed in Dux teaching language.
Dux tracks each dot point separately, so “I did Investigating Science” becomes a list of specific things you can already do and specific things you have never been asked. Open a module for all of its dot points, written out.
Questioning, planning, measuring and the logic of a controlled investigation.
Data analysis, reliability, modelling, and how theories are confirmed, revised or abandoned.
Reporting, representing data honestly, and evaluating claims made by others.
Applications of science, their consequences, and the public reasoning that should accompany them.
A Investigating Science paper is not one question type repeated. Each command word asks for a different shape of answer, and each is worth a different number of marks.
| Command word | Question type | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| analyse | Short answer | 3–5 |
| assess | Short answer | 3–5 |
| design | Short answer | 3–6 |
| develop | Short answer | 3–5 |
| discuss | Short answer | 3–5 |
| evaluate | Short answer | 3–6 |
| evaluate | Extended response | 8–10 |
| explain | Short answer | 2–5 |
| identify | Multiple choice | 1 |
| interpret | Multiple choice | 1 |
| judge | Short answer | 3–5 |
| solve | Short answer | 3–5 |
HSC Investigating Science - Examination Shape — 100 marks, 180 minutes. Practice papers in Dux are assembled to this shape rather than invented, so the timing is training too.
Diagnostic first, then questions written in the shape this course uses. Written answers come back marked against the bands, not just scored.