Year 9 · Science
Students develop a scientific understanding of human experiences, wellbeing and complexity, while learning to distinguish evidence from assumptions, recognise uncertainty, and apply this understanding to appropriate and supportive responses. The strand deliberately uses fictional situations and does not require personal disclosure or diagnosis.
Strand at a glance
The lesson sequence below comes from the complete strand guide.
Detailed strand guidance
Driving Question: Is Mental Health as Important as Physical Health?
Students begin by establishing what mental health means and questioning whether what we can observe gives us the complete picture.
Students produce: Evidence Based Conclusion This requires them to use: Claim -> Evidence -> Reasoning -> Limitation -> Assumption
Driving Question: Why Can Two People Experience the Same Thing Differently?
Students build on Lesson 1 by recognising that a situation does not automatically produce one predictable response. They explore context, relationships, environment, previous experiences, coping resources, and support, as possible interacting factors. Students then receive new evidence about a fictional character and have to change their interpretation when the evidence changes.
Students produce: Multi Factor Model + Revised Interpretation The important scientific principle is: Possible factors are not definite explanations.
Their model is used to explain possibilities rather than diagnose or claim certainty.
Driving Question: What Happens When Difficult Experiences Affect Someone’s Wellbeing?
This is the main content building lesson of the Science Strand.
Students explore:
The lesson repeatedly reinforces that people can respond differently and that behaviour alone cannot establish what someone is experiencing. Students then apply this knowledge to fictional characters.
Students produce: Scenario Analysis + Support System Map The map asks students to identify appropriate sources of support and explain who could help, how they could help and why that support could be appropriate.
Driving Question: How Should Better Understanding Change the Way We Respond to People?
This is the final Science lesson and synthesis lesson. Students bring together the ideas developed across the previous three lessons:
Students apply their scientific understanding to fictional situations involving misunderstanding, assumptions and different responses. They learn that better understanding does not mean knowing everything about someone, knowing exactly how they feel, or diagnosing what is happening. Instead, it means using evidence, recognising uncertainty, avoiding assumptions and choosing an appropriate response.
The lesson follows: Analyse -> Question -> Audit -> Redesign -> Test -> Synthesise
Students first analyse different responses, then identify what is known, what is unknown and what assumptions may be present. They audit whether a response is based on evidence, redesign an unhelpful response into a more supportive one, peer test their ideas and finally synthesise what the Science strand has taught them.
Students produce:
The final synthesis brings together evidence, uncertainty, assumptions, complexity, and appropriate response, showing how scientific understanding can influence the way we response to people.
Conceptual journey
The Strand in One Sentence: Students move from questioning assumptions, to understanding context and complexity, to exploring wellbeing, and finally to applying that understanding through respectful, evidence informed responses.
Analyse -> Question -> Audit -> Redesign -> Test -> Synthesis
The Science Strand therefore moves from understanding how we interpret people to understanding the complexity of human experience and finally to using that understanding to make more appropriate responses.
Assessment evidence and skills
Each lesson produces a piece of work, giving students a clear record of their learning:
Across the strand, students practise distinguishing observation from assumption, recognising uncertainty, considering multiple interacting factors, understanding wellbeing, and developing respectful, evidence informed responses without diagnosing people.
Across the strand, students practise:
Assessment Position
The current strand materials focus on the quality of the lesson products and the final synthesis rather than a separate weighted /100 judging grid.
Curriculum source: Y9 Strand Guide.docx
