|
|
Science Education
Group
|
|
At the beginning of Science Year
we would like to involve all interested
schools and science teachers to help
develop novel KS4 Mini-projects.
The intention is to provide opportunities
for linked practical investigation
and reading research, which will allow
students greater autonomy than the
current model used for course-work
assessment (Sc1.2).
|
- a
series of practical activities on
CD-ROM
|
|
The studies will be open-ended, offering
the possibility for various students
or groups to follow different lines
of enquiry. The studies will be based
on applications of science met during
GCSE courses. The contexts will be
chosen to motivate students, either
because the applications are used
in everyday life or appear in intriguing
phenomena, which are counter-intuitive.
Thus, they will be suitable for use
by individuals in science club sessions,
or with classes as part of the GCSE
course.
|
-
practical skills in the context
of a meaningful study
|
- Each
project should be based on some
property that is intriguing or counter-intuitive
e.g. plants grow faster in the dark,
if only for a short time.
-
There should be opportunities for
a variety of different lines of
investigation (including finding
information on the Internet).
-
It should be possible to link the
activities to some explanatory theory
which is accessible at KS4.
-
Each study should provide several
different possible lines of enquiry,
each of which could be covered by
students in about 4 - 6 hours work,
leading to an investigation report
or presentation to the class or
club.
|
-
motivating or intriguing contexts
for science practical work
-
freedom of choice for individuals
or opportunities for shared group
investigations
|
|
The first in our proposed series
of open-ended studies is Finding out
about freezing. One or two of these
studies will be provided on each ASE
CDROM throughout Science Year.
Three further outline suggestions
provided here show the type of projects
we are looking for. We hope that you
and your students will want to work
up experiments from at least one of
them, and that you will feedback your
experiences and take part in the evaluation.
We plan to develop a web forum for
exchange of ideas about the projects.
|
|
|
We are looking for schools who
are prepared to trial some (or all)
of the suggestions and report the
outcomes.
We are keen to evaluate both the learning
outcomes and the effects on student
attitudes, and to develop assessment
guidelines for this type of activity.
In particular, which lines of investigation
do and do not work with students across
a wide range of ability. What are
the effects on the attitudes and motivation
of students? How could such studies
be incorporated into coursework assessment,
either within a framework similar
to the current Sc1.2, or through development
of new assessment criteria?
|
-
a chance for your school to become
involved in trials and to help shape
the future of coursework assessment.
|
|
For further details and for information
about resources and support, please
contact:
Peter Nicolson,
The Science Curriculum Centre,
University of York,
Heslington,
York YO10 5DD
tel: 01904 432524
fax 01904 434078
email pen1@york.ac.uk
|
-
practical help and more information
available
|
 |
