Shore Sciences
A Horatian Satire On The True Shore Five
A. J. Li
THE SCIENCES OFFERED BY SHORE ARE A BELOVED PART OF ANY STUDENT’S SUBJECTS. In light of the upcoming Year 10 subject selections, here is a quick summary of the five sciences on offer and some things you can expect from them should you choose to pick a few up.
In no particular order, let’s begin with Biology. It is the study of living things and the course certainly reflects that with a strong focus on cells and broader biological topics such as the organisation of living things and the ecosystem in Year 11. Year 12 delves into the more nitty-gritty topics such as heredity and diseases. Memorisation is key, intuition and logic won’t help you as much here. Memorise your cell diagrams, memorise your evolution trees, memorise the time the continents separated, and memorise your enzyme pathways. You do get a nice opportunity and some freedom for a research project and while there are plenty of cool devices you can use with a friendly and knowledgeable lab tech team.
Moving onto Chemistry, the study of the properties and behaviour of matter. It’s perhaps the only subject where you’ll ever get to set things on fire and pretend it’s educational. You will also get to learn about questionable substances and how to make them. Once you do get past the realisation that you are not the second coming of Walter White, you will be ready to begin verifying that oil and water indeed do not mix (I can’t interfere, it’s a canon event). The Year 11 course starts off a little slowly by setting a few foundations before speeding up as you learn about reactions. Year 12 builds on this as you learn about acids and bases, and organic chemistry, and puts it all together with a specific module on applying chemical ideas. Intuition and logic will serve you well here and you also get a nice chance to have your own research project.
And now for Physics, the study of matter and its motion through space and time. It certainly is a maths-reliant subject, although many questions can be answered using a given formula. As Richard Feynman once said, with some euphemistic paraphrasing, “Physics is to maths what the real deal is to flying solo.” In all seriousness, if you want to pick up physics purely to have a feeling of superiority that you are doing a harder subject than your peers, you’re better off attempting Maths Extension 2. The Year 11 course is fast-paced with more or less three distinct topics of: kinematics & dynamics, waves, and electricity. Year 12 then goes into advanced mechanics, light and electromagnetism. Don’t be disheartened if you do poorly on a test; the average is usually below 50% anyway, but if you do want to do well, the best study technique is to memorise the scaffold rap (search it up on YouTube!).
Physics students cramming before their exam
Earth and Environmental Science explores the Earth’s renewable and non-renewable resources and also environmental issues. There’s plenty of overlap with geography, so don’t worry if you find yourself questioning whether you’re in geography or science. Year 11 focuses on Earth’s resources, energy, and human impacts, with the Year 12 course building on to managing the Earth’s resources, hazards, and climate science. More so than the other sciences, fieldwork is important here, so be prepared to go on excursions to verify that different types of rocks do exist. All jokes aside, this is an underrated science that would complement any geography or Earth lover’s subjects.
Finally, investigating science is all about making good observations and learning about the scientific process itself. Year 11 focuses on the centrality of observation in initiating the scientific process and examines the human tendency to draw inferences and make generalisations from these observations. Year 12 builds upon this with your own experiments and scientific investigations, as well as learning about how progress is made in modern society. This is a course that would complement any of the other sciences and is worth exploring if you are the type to like asking “why?” and conduct your own investigations.
All in all, every science has its unique allures and I highly recommend you look into pursuing at least one of them. In every science, you will find yourself well supported and understanding more about the world around you.