Level 3 Extended Certificate in Applied General Science

Student Handbook

2016/17

Name:

______

Contents

Important contact information

Overview of the course

Unit overview

Unit 1: Key Concepts in Science

Unit 2: Applied Experimental Techniques

Unit 3: Science in the Modern World

Unit 4: The Human Body

Unit 5: Investigating Science

Unit 6: Optional units

Standard of work

Expectations

Resubmission

Retakes

Extensions

Final grading information

Referencing Rules

Plagiarism

Contract

Important contact information

Miss Ellis, Physics:

Miss Hayman, Chemistry:

Mr Sefton, Biology:

Head of Faculty

Miss Constable:

Overview of the course

This course aims to prepare you as the learner to progress to a qualification in the same subject area but at a higher level or employment. This qualification is supported by a range of universities for you to study higher education courses such as biomedical science, forensics and sports science, as well as nursing and physiotherapy.

The table below is an overview of the course. In year 12 you will study units 1 – 3 which are all mandatory. In year 13 you will study units 5 – 6, with a choice of 3 different options from unit 6 which will be decided by Miss Constable, Head of Science Faculty by the end of Year 12.

Unit overview

Units are assessed either externally by an exam or internally by submitting a portfolio of work.

Units 1 and 2 will be delivered by subject specialist teachers alongside each other, i.e. you will be taught the theory (unit 1) and will then carry out the assignment for your portfolio (unit 2).

The teaching of unit 3 will start later in the course, approximately November, but will be at the discretion of Miss Hayman who will be delivering this unit.

Unit 1: Key Concepts in Science

This will be assessed by a written exam which is 1 hour and 30 minutes long in June. Throughout year 12 you will have regular class assessments by each of your teachers. This helps you and them to review your progress and focus your learning. There will also be a mock exam in January. The key concepts can be found in Table 1.

Table 1: Key concepts of unit 1

Biology / Chemistry / Physics

Cell structure
Transport mechanisms
The heart
Homeostasis
Breathing and cellular respiration
Photosynthesis and food chain productivity

Atomic Structure
The periodic table
Amount of substance
Bonding and structure
Enthalpy changes

Useful energy and efficiency
Electricity and circuits
Dynamics

Unit 2: Applied Experimental Techniques

This will be assessed by submitting six reports, two from Biology, two from Chemistry and two from Physics. You will need to submit each report to your individual teacher by the deadline given. It is important to follow the assignment brief and guidance by your teacher. Some exemplar work is included at the end of this handbook to demonstrate the level of work required for submission.

Your reports will be marked by your teacher and internally moderated before your marks are sent off to the exam board.

You will be expected to undertake a substantial amount of practical scientific work either as part of a group or by working independently. You should remember that in order to obtain the higher marks in your portfolio work, it is important that you are able to demonstrate independence in your work, be able to use your findings in order to make accurate conclusions and be able to evaluate the effectiveness of your practical work and research.

Unit 3: Science in the Modern World

This will be assessed by a written exam which is 1 hour and 30 minutes long in June. You will be given pre-release material in May to work through and annotate. You will not be able to take your pre-release material into the exam but will be given a fresh copy for you to use.

Throughout year 12 you will have regular class assessments. This helps you and them to review your progress and focus your learning. There will also be a mock exam in January. This unit is about developing your analytical, evaluative and critical thinking skills and focuses on topical scientific issues, ethical and moral issues and the roles and responsibilities undertaken by scientists and other professionals. This unit requires a good level of English. You will use a range of scientific media to study and will be led through important questions to ask about the information given.

Unit 4: The Human Body

This will be assessed by a written exam which is 1 hour and 30 minutes long in June of year 13. You will have a mock exam in January of year 13. The unit content includes:

The digestive system and diet
The musculoskeletal system and movement
How oxygen is transported in the blood and how physiological measurements can be applied
The structure and function of the nervous system and brain
Nerve impulses

Unit 5: Investigating Science

After your June exams in Year 12 you will carry out an original, extended practical investigation that draws together the knowledge, skills and understanding that you have developed from Year 12, particularly your unit 2 assignments. It is important to follow the guidance given by your teacher as they will break down your investigative work into bitesize chunks. The scientific investigations available to you will depend on which optional unit you will be undertaking in Year 13.

Your reports will be marked by your teacher and internally moderated before your marks are sent off to the exam board.

Unit 6: Optional units

The option unit is assessed by a written report following a practical assignment submitted to your teacher. The option you will take will be decided for you from the following list:

6a: Microbiology
6b: Medical Physics
6c: Organic Chemistry

Standard of work

All of your assignments will need to be word processed when submitted. Some keys to think about when writing up your reports:

Detailed introduction about the technique, when it is used, why it is used

Logical and coherent layout of your work

Labelled diagrams of apparatus where appropriate

Hand-drawn or excel graphs – you must do these independently, copies of each other’s work will not be tolerated

Correct use of referencing

Faultless spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Expectations

What we expect of you:

To be fully committed to the subject.
To be polite and courteous.
To respect the laboratories and equipment.
To attend all scheduled lessons.
To catch up with any missed lessons due to other course commitments or other absence.
To submit work in on time and to a high standard.
Students are expected to complete significant wider reading, including scientific journals, listening to radio programmes and watching documentaries.
To complete homework as set by the teacher.
To be equipped for lessons – pens, books, stationary, lab book, notebook.
To manage their work load efficiently to manage their range of subjects
To source opportunities to be involved in science in the wider sense of the school i.e. Open Evenings, STEM events.

There are strict deadlines on the Applied General Science course which must be met. Submission dates will also be scheduled onto the Show my homework website.

You are only allowed to submit evidence for your assessment once. Your teacher will record your assessment result and provide feedback on why you achieved the criteria you did.

Resubmission

There are opportunities to be able to resubmit your assignment under specific guidelines:

You have met the deadline or agreed extension.
Your teacher judges that you will be able to improve your assignment without further guidance.
Your teacher confirms that the evidence is your own work.
You are able to resubmit your work within school 10 days of your assignment being returned to you.

To apply for a resubmission you will need to obtain authorisation from Miss Constable. You can contact here via email:

Retakes

If you fail or obtain a grade lower than expected in your external exams you may retake but you will only be able to retake once. Your best grade will be submitted to the exam board.

If you want to retake an exam you will need to notify your teacher. A retake incurs a fee to you as the student.

Extensions

Extensions can only be given in exceptional circumstances, e.g. medical. To apply for an extension you will need to contact your teacher and provide evidence regarding your extension, e.g. a medical note from a doctor.

Equipment

It is important you are prepared for your lessons and are able to record your lesson notes appropriately. You should therefore purchase an A4 notebook and file your notes in a ring binder after each lesson. As part of your evidence recording for your investigative assignment work you will need to write up all practical’s as you go along in a lab book which can be purchased from the technician. Your lab book will need to be handed in with your report to check consistency.

You will need to bring a scientific calculator to lessons and ensure you know how to use this correctly.

Most students prefer to purchase their own safety goggles available from Amazon, which will need to be worn for all practical work.

To protect your clothing and understand the applied nature of the course you will need to purchase a white lab coat, also available from Amazon.

Final grading information

You must achieve a minimum of a pass for every unit to enable you to pass the qualification. The grading is based on points and falls within bands as shown in Table 2. Your external exams will be allocated a grade and a number of points which will be added to the total number of points from each of your assignments. This will then be used to determine your grade.

Table 2: Summary of grades

Qualification grade / Points / Approximate A level equivalent grade
Distinction* / 540 – 600 / A*
Distinction / 480 – 539 / A
Merit / 360 – 479 / B
Pass / 240 – 359 / E

Referencing Rules

All of your assignments will require you to carry out some independent research which will need to be referenced. Any information that you find that is not classed as common knowledge, i.e. basic scientific knowledge, will need to be referenced. Your lesson notes, worksheets and the internet will be your primary source of information. You must include references in your work, examples of which can be found in the exemplar material.

There are a number of referencing styles used, all of which are perfectly acceptable. The most commonly used one is Harvard. You will be expected to use this style in all of your work.

Further information regarding referencing and how to do this can be found from the following:

- great guide to referencing, why, when and how to use.
- free referencing software tool that you can download to your desktop.

Plagiarism

Submitting assignments without referencing implies that all of the work is your own, including research into information that is not classed as common knowledge. This is plagiarism. To avoid this you must reference all of your work. To help you learn how to reference you will have a lesson dedicated to this at the beginning of the course.

Any form of plagiarism is a very serious offence. If caught, your teacher will inform the examinations officer. This could lead to you being unable to submit your work to the exam board and failing the course.

Examples of plagiarism include:

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
to use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

Exemplar work

Below are extracts from a report written by a Year 12 student to help you understand the level and standard of work required. You will receive guidance from your teacher regarding the layout of your report and the various elements that will need to be included in your work. Your assignment brief booklet will contain your scenario and mark scheme so that you can make sure you are including sufficient detail.

Contract

I ……………………………………………….. understand and commit to adhering to the following points:

Commit fully to the subject
Submit work on time and suitably presented
Come equipped to lessons and assessments
Treat the department with respect
Source opportunities to extend my learning
Respond to feedback
Have a positive and engaged attitude towards the subject and all topics
Seek help where needed
Promote the subject and the projects worked on
Be a positive role model to other scientists
Take responsibility for my own actions
Try my best at all times
Be as independent as possible

Signed…………………………………………………………………………

Date:…………………………

Parent Signature……………………………………………………………