Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology Preparing Students for the Visit/Issue Report Using The

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology Preparing students for the Visit/Issue report using the Nowgenvideo

Students need to be guided on the requirements of the visit/issue reportif they are to meet the Edexcel assessment criteria, and avoid falling into the trap of just writing an essay on everything they know about a particular topic. This will not meet the Edexcel criteria which are research skills based.

The video at produced by Nowgenas part of the Nowgen Schools Genomics Programme, can be used to help guide students in writing their visit issue report.

The video featuresDr John Dunkerton who is Edexcel Chief Examiner, Dr Lisa Melton who is News Editor at Nature Biotechnology journal, and students who recently completed their visit issue reports. The steps in the process of researching and writing a visit issue report are illustrated with comparisons between what Lisa does as a science writer and what students need to do for their coursework.

Using the video in class

Thevideo is divided into six sections. These cover key features of a visit issue highlighting various requirements needed to meet the assessment criteria. The whole video could be shown at once but an alternative would be to view the different sections and link these to the assessment criteria at each stage. Examiners have noted that the best reports come from centres who have clearly shared the criteria and exemplars with their students. Exemplar material is available to download from the secure section of the Edexcel website.

There is a brief outline of each section of the videobelow, with suggestions on how this might be presented in class.

• John gives guidance on the need to identify and describe a biological problem, and write about what scientists are doing about the problem.
• The need to include data is highlighted.

Students could be shown this introductory section and then asked to come up with a list of what biologists actually do, see below for a sample list. This provides a reference framework for the whole of the visit issue research task effectively introducing the sort of things students will include in their reports.

How biologists work

Biologists:

•identify a biological problem,

•try to come up with an appropriate solution,

•consider the implications of their solution,

•examine the benefits and risks of this solution,

•look at some alternatives,

•critically look at and then use any source material,

•attempt to communicate their ideas effectively.

Students could then be asked to look through the assessment criteria and see if they can identify these steps within the criteria; the similarities should be obvious.

© Nuffield Foundation and University of York Science Education Group 2011 • downloaded from • page1

• Lisa describes how she goes about choosing a topic to research.
• John gives guidance on how to identify a problem and prepare for a visit.
• A group of students briefly outline the problems they considered for their issue report.
• Lisa illustrates the journalistic research process using the problem of correct warfarin dosing (see the Nowgen information sheet on warfarin for more detail); then she highlights the need to consider implications.

• Possible sources of information are described and the need for a variety of sources including journals is highlighted.
• The need to critically evaluate those sources of information is introduced.

After viewing these two sections, students could come up with a plan for how they are going to identify a problem and/or prepare for their visit. This might include encouraging students to read newspapers, watch the news on television or regularly scan the Internet for current items.The snabonlinebionews archive contains lots of news items as a starting point. There could be a regular group discussion of ‘biology news’ items whichstudents have spotted, and could be appropriate for an Issue report.These ideas could be shared on a notice board, school website or intranet. Structuring any discussions around the assessment criteria would further prepare students for writing the report. The report does not need to be related to the specification content.

Students who will be undertaking a visit should be encouraged to prepare for the visit. This might include completing background research on the website of the organisation they are visiting or similar ones, to help them identify problems and the methods being used to solve them.

Lists of past topics are available on the Edexcel website, but it is often best to get students to select something themselves that will capture their interest.

• John highlights the need for evidence that students have evaluated sources of information beyond just saying they have checked.

After viewing this section, students could discuss what it means to evaluate sources of material. The need to include evidence when commenting on the validity of their source materialshould be highlighted. Viewing good exemplar material can illustrate how this is done.

• John highlights the need to consider two implications. Lisa illustrates how she considers implications from the very start of her research to decide an issue to investigate.

• John highlights the need to consider alternative solutions to the problem.
• Lisa and the students provide some final points that are worth remembering when undertaking the visit/issue report.

After watching the final two sections, students could be given some possible titles, or the stimulus paragraphs produced by Nowgen,to read. They could then poolideas on possible implications and alternative solutions for each title. Student marking of good exemplars helps them identify the different components of the report. This will help them understand what they have to do for their own visit/issue report.

For more details on how to prepare students for the visit/issue: visit the Edexcel website at

© Nuffield Foundation and University of York Science Education Group 2011 • downloaded from • page1