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Links to the ACE Curriculum
Course Title | Content | ACE Grade - PACE No. | Practical Session Content | Critical Thinking Activity | Home Education Lesson |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Nature Of Science |
Distinguishing between experimental/operational science and historical science The Scientific method Indicators, acids and bases |
7 - 1073 10 -1109 6 - 1061 |
Students make an indicator and use it to identify acids and alkalis from household products. These results are compared with UI. | Students critically compare operational science with science investigating the past, recognising that these methods will produce conclusions with different levels of certainty. | S001 |
2.Evidence for a global Flood
(can be split into two sessions; Rocks and Fossils) |
Creation – Study Genesis 1 v 1-9 The flood – Study Genesis Chpt 6,7 Plate tectonics The structure of the Earth Fossil grave-yards 3 Types of rock Sedimentary rock formation |
7 – 1073 8 - 1096 8 – 1090 8 - 1086 8 - 1096 6 – 1063 8 - 1094 8 - 1086 8 - 1086 |
There are 4 experiments:
1.Sedimentation jars are used to show how sediment self-sorts into layers 2. 15 different rock samples are available to examine using hand lenses. 3. A ‘fossil’ is made from Plaster of Paris. 4. 10 different fossils are examined in a fossil identification quiz. |
Students are invited to link together evidence from fossil formation, fossil abundance and type of rock to formulate a theory as to how this evidence in the rocks could have arisen. | R001 R002 R003 VJ001 VJ002 VJ003 |
3.The Age of the Earth |
Evolution requires long ages:
Uniformitarianism and recent cataclysmic geology are contrasted, Evidence from folding of rocks Unfossilised blood protein in dinosaur bones Images of dinosaurs in temple carvings Radiometric dating – inconsistent results Additional evidence that supports a young Earth from astronomy and Earth Sciences.(eg Earth’s magnetic field, comets) |
8 - 1096 10 -1120 11 -1132 12 -1141 5 – 1054 6 - 1066 |
Radiometric Dating is modelled and the characteristic exponential decay curve drawn and the half-life determined.
Younger students can make a simulated volcano |
Students research 'for' and 'against' arguments, gathering evidence for a young Earth. They then engage in a formal debate, drawing on their research, to produce argument in support of, or against the question. | |
4.How life Began | Abiogenesis
Louis Pasteur – Swan neck flasks experiment Miller-Urey Experiment The discovery of the DNA molecule DNA complexity and role in Reproduction. Statistical impossibility of the DNA molecule arising by chance. |
4 - 1037
6 - 1072 7 - 1079 |
Students learn how to use a microscope.
The DNA molecule is extracted from various fruits. Students make a model DNA molecule. Students use marshmallow monsters to model inheritance. |
Students devise their own model of DNA.
A group activity in which the Miller-Urey experiment is critically evaluated. |
L001 |
5.Evolution critically examined | Charles Darwin at The Galapagos Islands - Evolution is not Natural Selection.
Are mutations the mechanism of change? Stasis in the fossil record – living fossils. Hard questions for evolution - complexity |
9 – 1107 9 - 1105 |
Optional experiment : pig or sheep heart dissection | Students look at the Theory of Evolution and consider to what extent this theory adopts the The Scientific Method. |