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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

7–10Science 7–10 Syllabus

Record of changes
Implementation from 2026
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Stage 4

Living systems

Working scientifically

In this focus area, students develop skills in questioning and predicting, processing data and information, and communicating scientific ideas and concepts. Additional Working scientifically outcomes and skills may be integrated with this content.

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Body systems
  • Explain the interrelationship among cells, tissues and organs

  • Identify the role of the digestive, circulatory, respiratory and excretory systems of humans, and name the major organs

  • Draw or annotate representations of models of organ systems to describe their processes and functions

  • Describe how the structures of organ systems, and the specialised cells within these systems, enable them to carry out their functions

  • Explain how a disorder or disease affecting the components of a body system, or the removal of any component in the body system, impacts on the overall functioning of the system and the organism as a whole

  • Describe how the components of each body system interact to allow the efficient functioning of an organism

Plant systems
  • Determine the role, structure and function of the components of a plant, including the xylem and phloem, in maintaining plants as multicellular organisms

  • Use scientific tools and instruments to observe the specialised cells and tissues involved in the structure and function of plants

Ecosystems
  • Identify the components that make up an ecosystem

  • Investigate the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem

  • Identify how matter and energy are cycled through an ecosystem

  • Create a food web and ecological energy pyramid based on local area observations to describe how matter and energy move through an ecosystem

  • Create written texts to explain how energy pyramids show the amount of energy or matter at each trophic level

  • Examine secondary-source data on the factors that change populations, including the introduction of a new species to an ecosystem, to identify trends, patterns and relationships, and draw conclusions

Living systems in context
  • Investigate factors that lead to a species becoming endangered or extinct to explain why Australia has some of the world’s highest rates of species population decline and extinction

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