Twenty First Century Science

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

F Assessment

For subject leaders and teachers

Here are some items relating to assessment. However assessment is an OCR responsibility and all queries about assessment should be referred to them.

Contents

F1 GCSE Science: an assessment rationale

F2 Guide to what’s available on the OCR website

F3 Ppt Linking teaching of GCSE Science to assessment (Blackpool ppt)

F4 Revision and exams (all courses)

F5 GCSE Science: Case Study guidance (Blackpool unit)

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

F1 GCSE Science: an assessment rationale

Here are some notes which should be useful. OCR are the ultimate authority here. See their guidance.

Each of the courses in the Twenty First Century Science suite is designed on the principle of ‘fitness-for-purpose’, to provide an appropriate learning experience for a particular group of students.

The objectives for each course are different, and this is reflected not only the content, but also in the approaches to teaching and assessment for each course.

For example, the internal assessment for GCSE Science is quite different from that of both GCSE Additional Science and GCSE Additional Applied Science.

“The GCSE Science course is designed to help students to:
• recognise the impact of science and technology on everyday life;
• make better informed decisions about issues and questions that involve science;
• understand and reflect on the information in media reports and other public sources of information.

To achieve this, candidates must have a broad understanding of the main scientific concepts that provide a framework for making sense of the world. These are referred to as ‘Science Explanations’. Candidates also need to be able to reflect on scientific knowledge itself, the practices that have produced it, the kinds of reasoning that are used in developing a scientific argument, and the issues that arise when scientific knowledge is put to practical use. These are referred to as ‘Ideas about Science’.”

[extract from the OCR specification GCSE Science A, pages 4-5]

Each of the assessment elements for GCSE Science provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge of Science Explanations, Ideas about Science, and/or their ability to use knowledge and understanding of these two areas to critically evaluate scientific information which they are provided with. Overall, OCR have indicated that the assessment weighting given to Science Explanations and Ideas about Science is about equal.

External assessment

Modular examination papers: Objective-style questions mainly testing Science Explanations. OCR say that the format is designed to be familiar to students beginning their GCSE course.

Ideas in Context paper: Here OCR have indicated that they plan questions requiring some extended writing based on pre-release material, mainly testing Ideas about Science. Questions referring to Science Explanations are restricted to the subject matter of the pre-release material (such as an article on developing a new vaccine, likely to relate to module B2 Keeping healthy). However, questions may test any of the Ideas about Science, not just those taught in the relevant module. This provides students with an opportunity to show holistic knowledge, understanding and application of Ideas about Science as well as Science Explanations, in familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

Internal assessment

Data Analysis: See the OCR specification. Students interpret and analyse data which they have collected first-hand. All of us, whether we are scientists or not, must make sense of scientific information as we meet it in our daily lives. By collecting, interpreting, and evaluating first-hand data, students have an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to do this, drawing on their knowledge and understanding of three Ideas about Science: IaS1 Data and its limitations, IaS2 Correlation and cause, and IaS3 Developing explanations.

Case Study: See the OCR specification. Students research a science-related question. Using a variety of sources which they select, students describe the relevant science and critically evaluate the quality of evidence used to support competing claims. They weigh up opposing views and draw their own conclusions. This task gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of many of the Ideas about Science.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

F2 Guide to what’s available on the OCR website

It is much simpler to use the Guide to the OCR website page on the Twenty First Century Science website which has all the links. See the link from the left-hand column on the home page of http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/

Specifications and examinations are the responsibility of the awarding body OCR. Their website has specifications and information about the assessment.

See the Teachers/Centres section on http://www.gcse-science.com/

Specifications

Click on the Teachers/Centres section to find Specifications

Support materials

This includes other items you are likely to want. Click on Twenty First Century Science.

Coursework guidance

This heading on the Twenty First Century Science page has guidance for each course (the documents for each course are called ‘Support’. As an example, the GCSE Science guidance includes

• Managing skills development and assessment

• Guidance in marking the data analysis task and case studies

• Example of data analysis tasks with commentaries

• Suggestions for case study topics, and examples of completed case studies with commentaries

• Advice to centres on preparation of sample for moderation

Sample assessment material

To get this, on the Twenty First Century Science page you click on the name of each course.

Training: internal and external

Training materials and dates for OCR courses: download these from the Training page – link from left-hand margin

Register with OCR for Forum and Science support network

Note that the OCR Forum is for conversations among teachers and technicians. Placing a message here does not necessarily mean that your message will reach the OCR subject officer.

Exams officer information

This is on the general OCR website
http://www.ocr.org.uk/

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

F3 Ppt Linking teaching of GCSE Science to assessment (Blackpool ppt)

Download this presentation from www.21stcenturyscience.org

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

F4 Revision and exams (all courses)

See the OCR specifications which you can download from the OCR website http://www.gcse-science.com/

The Oxford University Press (OUP) textbooks are of course a good place to start. See http://www.oup.com/oxed/secondary/science/c21science/

The OUP Science and Additional Science books have a two-page spread at the end of each module setting out what students need to know. Students could use a copy of these as a checklist of what they are confident about.

Teachers could use selective slides from the OUP iPack as prompts, getting students to identify key ideas in each module. Other prompts could be experiments, or newspaper headlines.

Answers to questions in the C21 workbooks are available on the OUP website http://www.twentyfirstcenturyscience.org/teacherandtechnicianzone

A useful revision guide for the GCSE Science course is also available from Oxford University Press. See C21 publications from OUP.

For GCSE Science only, see the past papers used during the Pilot, noting carefully the health warnings about changes from 2006 onwards! (GCSE Science was then called GCSE Core Science). These are available on the C21 project website www.21stcenturyscience.org (In the navigation area at the left of the webpage, click first on Assessment and then on Science. The Pilot exam questions are downloadable at the top right of the webpage which this opens.)

And finally, teachers will have access to OCR Sample Assessment Materials. See http://www.gcse-science.com/

GCSE Science: Guidance on the case study from Blackpool LA

For a discussion on the place of internally assessed skills in C21 GCSE Science, developed by C21 schools in Blackpool, please see the separate document F5 Blackpool case study. It also contains a range of resources which can be used to help prepare students for their Case Study and Data Analysis tasks.

Twenty First Century Science Training pack 2

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