Working Scientifically Across 7-12: Building Inquiry, Data Skills and Depth Studies

Facilitator: Rebecca Collett, STANSW Teacher Fellow
Date and time: Wednesday 11 November 2026 (2pm – 5pm)
Duration: Three-hour stand-alone professional learning workshop
Mode of Delivery: Live online, via Zoom
Audience: Secondary science teachers, faculty leaders and early-career teachers

Course Rationale

This professional learning course is designed to strengthen teachers’ capacity to deliberately embed and sequence Working Scientifically skills across Years 7–12. The NSW Science 7–10 (2023) Syllabus positions scientific literacy as being developed through the Working scientifically processes and highlights observation, questioning, experimentation, discussion, critical analysis and creative thinking as central to understanding the world.
In Stages 4 and 5, Working Scientifically describes a progression in which students move from making and recording observations to formulating questions and predictions, planning and conducting safe and valid investigations, processing and representing data, analysing patterns and relationships, proposing solutions, and communicating scientific ideas and arguments using appropriate language and representations. This course supports teachers to make that progression explicit in programs, units and classroom tasks, ensuring these skills are embedded across all focus areas, including data‑rich units and depth studies, rather than treated as a separate strand.

Stage 6 science courses extend these expectations through skills that require students to design and evaluate more complex investigations and depth studies, critically analyse data and information, and communicate evidence‑based explanations and arguments in a range of formats. By aligning 7–10 programs with senior course expectations, the course helps faculties ensure continuity of Working Scientifically skill development and better preparation for Stage 6 science.

Informed by NESA support materials and recent research into sequencing inquiry and data‑intensive investigation activities, the course uses program auditing, collaborative planning and exemplar design (including data science tasks and depth studies) to help teachers embed Working Scientifically across diverse contexts, enabling students to become scientifically literate, critical and reflective citizens.

Course Overview

This 3‑hour professional learning course supports secondary science teachers to embed and sequence Working Scientifically skills coherently across Years 7–12. Grounded in the Science 7–10 (2023) syllabus, it recognises Working scientifically as the organising frame that envelops all focus areas and connects skills with disciplinary knowledge, data science contexts and depth studies.

Participants will unpack Working Scientifically progressions and analyse how observing, questioning and predicting, planning and conducting investigations, processing and analysing data and information, problem‑solving and communicating can be woven through everyday lessons, data‑rich tasks, short investigations and longer depth studies. Using their own programs, teachers will audit current coverage of Working Scientifically skills, identify gaps, and collaboratively redesign learning sequences that better prepare students for the demands of Stage 6 science courses, including the design and evaluation of depth studies.

The course is informed by NESA support materials and recent research on sequencing inquiry and data science activities and emphasises practical examples and tools that can be immediately applied in faculties.

Learning Intentions

By the end of this three-hour workshop, participants will:

1. Deepen their understanding of the role Working scientifically plays across all focus areas in the Science 7–10 (2023) syllabus, including data‑rich units and depth studies, and its contribution to scientific literacy.
2. Describe and use the progression of Working Scientifically skills from Stage 4 to Stage 6 to inform coherent programming and task design across Years 7–12, with explicit attention to how these skills are developed through data science tasks and Stage 6 depth studies.
3. Audit existing 7–10 science programs to identify strengths and gaps in the explicit teaching, practice and assessment of Working Scientifically skills, including their use in data‑intensive investigations and depth studies, and plan targeted improvements.
4. Design or refine sequences of lessons and investigations in multiple focus areas that authentically embed observing, questioning and predicting, planning, conducting, processing and analysing data and information, problem‑solving and communicating, using both routine classroom contexts and extended depth study experiences.
5. Develop and trial practical tools (such as progressions, checklists and rubrics) for monitoring students’ growth in Working Scientifically skills in everyday lessons, data science activities and depth studies, supporting preparation for Stage 6 science and scientifically literate, critical citizenship.

Registration Closes: Tuesday 3 November 2026
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