Aspects of Science
Science is a course for all, providing students with the key concepts and skills required to make sense of science in our daily lives.
Activities
Activities include practical work, interpreting data, discussion and model-building. There are also more standard practicals geared to helping students to understand contemporary issues.
ICT
Resources include presentations, simulations, animations, spreadsheets, video clips and interactive tests. Pilot centres have found that the use of ICT enhances student autonomy and motivation, and allows flexibility in learning style and pace.
Textbooks
The Science textbooks at Foundation and Higher Tier provide students with concise and engaging readers giving background knowledge and stimulating questions to focus independent work, research, or discussion.
Schemes of Work
Each module has a scheme of work which summarises suggestions for 12 lessons plus 2 cover lessons. Each scheme of work is presented in a table which specifies:
- the specification covered,
- notes on the lesson: start, main, and end, with summaries of activities
- suggested timings
- resources - activities and ICT
- possible ways of differentiating the treatment or extending the coverage.
Activities
Activity sheets for the students are accompanied by guidance notes for technicians and teachers. All practical activities have been checked for health and safety issues.
Assessment
The assessment is designed to encourage thoughtful teaching and learning in the spirit of the course. Students are assessed on their scientific literacy, including their knowledge and understanding of science explanations, and their insight into how science works.
Teacher assessment
- Case Study
Students research and present a report on an issue related to science. This should include an element of controversy, in terms either of the interpretation of the evidence or of the acceptibility of some new development.
- Data analysis
Students carry out a practical procedure to collect primary data. They do an analysis and evaluation of this, including the limitations of their techniques.
Records and notes
Workbooks provide students with exercises to summarise the key points, and questions to help their learning of each topic.
