WHAT IS PHYSICAL SCIENCES?
Physical Sciences investigate physical and chemical phenomena. This is done through scientific inquiry, application of scientific models, theories and laws in order to explain and predict events in the physical environment.
This subject also deals with society’s need to understand how the physical environment works in order to benefit from it and responsibly care for it. All scientific and technological knowledge, including Indigenous Knowledge Systems
(IKS), is used to address challenges facing society. Indigenous knowledge is knowledge that communities have held, used or are still using; this knowledge has been passed on through generations and has been a source of many innovations and developments including scientific developments. Some concepts found in Indigenous Knowledge Systems lend themselves to explanation using the scientific method while other concepts do not; this is still knowledge however.
SPECIFIC AIMS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES
The purpose of Physical Sciences is to make learners aware of their environment and to equip learners with investigating skills relating to physical and chemical phenomena, for example, lightning and solubility. Examples of some of the skills that are relevant for the study of Physical Sciences are classifying, communicating, measuring, designing an investigation, drawing and evaluating conclusions, formulating models, hypothesising, identifying and controlling variables, inferring, observing and comparing, interpreting, predicting, problem-solving and reflective skills.
Physical Sciences promotes knowledge and skills in scientific inquiry and problem solving; the construction and application of scientific and technological knowledge; an understanding of the nature of science and its relationships to technology, society and the environment.
Physical Sciences prepares learners for:
- future learning,
- specialist learning,
- employment,
- citizenship,
- holistic development,
- socio-economic development, and
- environmental management.
Career Paths
Learners choosing Physical Sciences as a subject in Grades 10-12, including those with barriers to learning, can have improved access to:
- academic courses in Higher Education;
- professional career paths related to applied science courses and
- vocational career paths.
Physical Sciences plays an increasingly important role in the lives of all South Africans owing to their influence on scientific and technological development, which are necessary for the country’s economic growth and the social well-being of its people.
Six main knowledge areas inform the subject Physical Sciences. These are:
- Matter and Materials
- Chemical Systems
- Chemical Change
- Mechanics
- Waves, Sound and Light