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VCE SCIENCE ELECTIVES

Psychology is a multifaceted discipline that seeks to describe, explain, understand and predict human behaviour and mental processes.
It includes many sub-fields of study that explore and seek to better understand how individuals, groups, communities and societies think, feel and act. VCE Psychology applies a biopsychosocial approach to the systematic study of mental processes and behaviour.

The study is made up of four units, framed to answer the following questions:

Unit 1: How are behaviour and mental processes shaped?

Unit 2: How do internal and external factors influence behaviour and mental processes?

Unit 1
In this unit, students will investigate the chemical structures and properties of a range of materials. They consider how manufacturing innovations lead to more sustainable products being produced for society.

Students conduct practical investigations involving the reactivity series of metals, separation of mixtures by chromatography, use of precipitation reactions. A student directed research investigation into the sustainable production or use of a selected material is to be undertaken.

Unit 2
In this unit, students take the role of chemists to analyse the materials and products in everyday use. They will analyse and compare different substances dissolved in water and the gases that may be produced in chemical reactions.

Students conduct practical investigations involving the specific heat capacity of water, acid base and redox reactions, solubility, molar volume of a gas, volumetric analysis, and the use of a calibration curve.

A student designed investigation involves the generation of primary data and is directly related to the science skills and knowledge exhibited throughout the course.

Unit 1
Students examine the cell as the structural and functional unit of life, from the single celled to the multicellular organism, including the requirements for sustaining cellular processes. Students focus on cell growth, replacement and death and the role stem cells in differentiation, specialisation and renewal of cells.

Later on in the Semester, students explore how systems function through cell specialisation & investigate the inner workings of the mammalian digestive system, experimentally. Finally, there is an opporunity to explore how the body coordiates homeostasis through regulating Blood Glucose levels & learn how this relates to Diabetes.

Unit 2
Students explore current biotechnology tools used to modify the DNA of different organisms. From here, students gain an understanding of reproduction and the transmission of biological information from generation to generation and the impact this has on species diversity.

They apply their understanding of chromosomes to explain the process of mitosis & meiosis. Students consider how the relationship between genes and the environment and epigenetic factors influence phenotypic expression.

Finally, students explain the inheritance of characteristics, analyse patterns of inheritance, interpret pedigree charts and predict outcomes of genetic crosses.

VCE Physics Units 1 & 2 introduce students to the foundational concepts of energy and motion, exploring how physics explains and shapes the world around us. In Unit 1, students investigate energy in its various forms—thermal, light, electrical, nuclear—and apply physics models to real-world contexts such as communication, medical technologies, climate change, and Australia’s energy needs. Unit 2 focuses on the role of experimentation in physics, examining the forces behind motion and offering students the opportunity to explore one of eighteen applied physics options, from astrophysics to biomechanics. Through hands-on investigations, data analysis, and critical thinking, students apply their understanding of physics to contemporary societal issues and practical applications.

Unit 3: How does experience affect behaviour and mental processes?
In this unit, students investigate how the human nervous system enables a person to interact with the world around them, considering the contribution of classical and contemporary research.

They explore how stress may affect a person’s psychological functioning, consider stress as a psychobiological process, and relationship between the gut and the brain in psychological functioning. Students also investigate how mechanisms of learning and memory lead to the acquisition of knowledge and the development of new and changed behaviours.

They consider models to explain learning and memory and brain regions involved in memory.
Students investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ use of place as a repository of memory.

Unit 4: How is mental wellbeing supported and maintained?
In this unit, students explore the demand for sleep and the influences of sleep on mental wellbeing. They also study the impact that changes to a person’s sleep-wake cycle and sleep hygiene have on psychological functioning and consider the contribution that classical and contemporary research has made to the understanding of sleep.

Students explore the concept of mental wellbeing as a continuum and apply a biopsychosocial approach, as a scientific model, to understand specific phobia. They explore how mental wellbeing can be supported by considering the importance of biopsychosocial protective factors and cultural determinants as integral to the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Unit 3
In this unit, students will investigate the global demand for energy and materials and the chemical production of energy and materials. They explore how innovation, design and sustainability principles and concepts can be applied to produce energy and materials while minimising possible harmful effects of production on human health and the environment.

Students will investigate how the rate of a reaction can be controlled so that it occurs at the optimum rate while avoiding unwanted side reactions and by products.

Unit 4 How are organic compounds categorised, analysed and used?

In Area of Study 1 students learn to name and deduce the structure of organic compounds by interpreting data from various spectroscopic methods. In Area of Study 2 students explore the importance of food from a chemical perspective. In Area of Study 3 students design a practical investigation related to content from Unit 3 and/or Unit 4. Career Options Anaesthetist, Physician, Biochemist, Physiotherapist, Geochemist, Pharmacologist, Industrial Chemist, Pharmacist, Medical Practitioner, Psychiatrist, Neurologist, Radiologist, Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Surgeon, Pathologist, Paediatrician, Ophthalmologist, Biomedical Scientist, Dentist, Research Scientist

Unit 3/4 Biology is the study of living things and how they survive. It serves as a suitable subject to prepare for many careers such as medicine, botany, genetics and many more. In Unit 3, students explore the question 'How do cells maintain life?'
Area of study 1: Students explore the relationship between nucleic acids and proteins & DNA manipulation techniques and applications
Area of study 2: Students explore how biochemical pathways can be regulated, investigating the processes of Photosynthesis & Cellular Respiration
In Unit Unit 4, students examine the question 'how does life change and respond to challenges?'
Area of study 1: Students explore how plants & animals respond to antigens, through the topics of acquiring immunity & disease challenges and strategies
Area of study 2: Students explore how genetic changes in a population over time come about, how scientists determine the relatedness of species & how human's have changed over time
Finally, in Area of study 3, students undertake an investigation to explore a biochemical process.

VCE Physics Units 3 & 4 build on foundational physics knowledge to explore the deep principles that govern motion, electricity, light, and the structure of the universe. These units challenge students to apply both classical and modern physics models to explain real-world and theoretical phenomena, with a strong emphasis on experimentation and critical thinking.

In Unit 3, students investigate motion through Newton’s laws and explore the concept of fields—gravitational, electric, and magnetic—as models to explain forces acting at a distance. They examine how these fields enable electricity generation and transmission, and how they underpin advanced technologies like particle accelerators.

Unit 4 delves into revolutionary ideas in physics, including quantum theory and relativity. Students explore how light and matter exhibit both wave and particle behaviours, and how Einstein’s theories reshaped our understanding of time, space, and energy. Across Units 3 and 4, students complete a major practical investigation, presenting their findings in a scientific poster that showcases their experimental design, data analysis, and conceptual understanding.