ICAS Science case studies
ICAS Science · Put your knowledge to work in context.
ICAS Science is an annual science competition for school students, run by ICAS Assessments (powered by Janison) and open to students from Year 2 to Year 12. It is a challenge-style competition rather than a syllabus test: students answer questions built around real scientific stimulus materials and are ranked against their peers, with results reported against curricula for the relevant year. The ICAS Science case studies are 5 cases and about 3,155 words.
1Measuring Seedling Heights
Priya is measuring the height of five bean seedlings for a class investigation. She rests a plastic ruler on the rim of each pot with her eye about 20 cm to the left of the ruler, and records the number level with the tip of the tallest leaf.
669 words, about 3 min2Glucose Concentration and Yeast Fermentation
A student investigates how glucose concentration affects the rate of fermentation in yeast. She adds 5 g of dried yeast to 100 mL of glucose solution at each of five concentrations and counts the bubbles leaving the tube in five minutes.
557 words, about 3 min3Bouncing Ball on Two Floors
A student drops a squash ball onto a concrete floor from heights of 20, 40, 60 and 80 cm and records the height of the first bounce: 11, 21, 32 and 41 cm. Using this pattern she predicts a bounce of about 51 cm from a 100 cm drop and about 82 cm from a 160 cm drop.
618 words, about 3 min4Testing a Tomato 'Growth Booster'
A student wants to test a company's claim that 'Growth Boost' makes tomato plants produce more fruit. She has two tomato seedlings of the same variety, two pots, potting mix and a bottle of Growth Boost.
644 words, about 3 min5Estimating Dandelions on the School Oval
A student wants to estimate how many dandelion plants are on the school oval, which is about 80 m by 50 m. She throws a 1 m × 1 m quadrat ten times and counts 3, 0, 5, 12, 1, 0, 4, 2, 0 and 25 dandelions.
667 words, about 3 min