1

St Philomena’s Catholic High School for Girls

Sixth Formers’ Applied General Science

Handbook

A Post 16 Subject Guide 2017 – 2019

Level 3 Applied General Certificate in Applied Science (AQA) Course leader- Mrs Mansbridge

2

Content

Introductory Summer Task

What is Level 3 Applied Science?

What could this qualification lead to?

What are the benefits of this qualification?

A straightforward structure (an overview)

What will happen in lessons?

Overview of Grading

How will standards of work be maintained?

Preparing your coursework – good practice

Plagerism

Useful Websites

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 10

Page 15

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

3

Introductory Summer Task

Over the summer we would like you research Fracking. We would like you to research the topic and then use your research to produce an essay which you will bring to your first lesson which covers:

What is Fracking?

What are the positive points about fracking?

What are the negative points about fracking?

What is your opinion on fracking? Why?

You will need to provide a reference page and in your references you will need to evaluate each one, was it helpful or not and why? Is it a reliable source of information and why? compare the articles from generalist media against the specialist media information such as briefings and reports from friends of the earth and identify how these approaches and styles are used for different audiences. Suggested Websites http://www.talkfracking.org/resources/ https://www.foe.co.uk/page/key-information-fracking-shale-gas environmentamerica.org/sites/environment/files/reports/EA_FrackingNumbers_scrn.pdf drillordrop.com/2015/12/18/fracking-by-numbers-figures-from-the-new-oil-and-gas-licences/ frack-off.org.uk/resources

4

Level 3 Applied General Certificate in Applied Science (AQA)

What is Level 3 Applied Science?

This qualification will provide learners with a broad understanding of vocationally-related

sciences to support progress to higher education. It is suitable for studying alongside

substantial academic science qualifications, such as A-level sciences or other Level 3 vocational

qualifications. This qualification can also prepare learners to take up employment in the

applied science sector, either directly after achieving the qualification or via higher education.

Studying this qualification will enable learners to develop their knowledge and understanding

of scientific principles, as well as those scientific practical skills recognised by higher education

institutions and employers to be most important. The qualification also offers learners an

opportunity to develop transferable skills such as problem-solving, research and

communication as part of their applied learning.

All three of the units in this qualification are mandatory and AQA has worked with

stakeholders in developing the design and content of this qualification to ensure that it covers

the fundamental scientific knowledge, understanding and practical skills associated with

applied science learning.

Learners will cover topics such as:

scientific principles associated with the application of biology, chemistry and physics

experimental and practical techniques associated with applied science

the roles and skills of scientists, and the public and media perception of science.

5

What could this qualification lead to? This qualification is supported by a range of universities, and taken alongside other

qualifications it can fulfil the entry requirements for a number of science-related higher

education courses, including biomedical, forensic and sports science, as well as nursing. In

addition, the qualification is eligible for UCAS points (see ucas.com).

Who supports this qualification? This qualification has been developed in collaboration with higher education and other

stakeholders in the science education sector. Therefore, the knowledge and skills gained will

provide the best possible opportunity for progress to higher education or employment.

The qualification is supported by the following higher education institutions:

Aberystwyth University

Birmingham City University

University of Bolton

Edge Hill University

Staffordshire University

University of South Wales

Southampton University

University of Sunderland

Teesside University

University of Wolverhampton

York St John University.

The qualification has also been supported by:

Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WiSET) wiset.org.uk

University of York Science Education Group uyseg.org

The Association for Science Education ase.org.uk

6

What are the benefits of this qualification?

The AQA Level 3 Certificate in Applied Science will allow learners the opportunity to learn and

understand the core principles and practical applications that underpin applied science. The

qualification's synoptic focus will ensure that learning is coherent across all three units. The

learner will undertake a programme of assessment designed to measure their knowledge and

understanding of applied science as well as its practical application.

Each unit within the qualification has an applied purpose which acts as a focus for the learning

in the unit. The applied purpose demands authentic work-related learning in each of the units.

It also requires learners to consider how the use and application of their learning affects

themselves, other individuals, employers, society and the environment. The applied purpose

will also enable learners to learn in such a way that they develop:

skills required for independent learning and development

a range of generic and transferable skills

the ability to solve problems

the skills of project-based research, development and presentation

the ability to apply mathematical and ICT skills

the ability to apply learning in vocational contexts

7

A straightforward structure (an overview)

Year 12 1 Key concepts in

science Written exam Externally

assessed 2 Applied

experimental techniques

Portfolio Internally assessed

3 Science in the modern world

Written exam with pre-release material

Externally assessed

Year 13 (This additional year would give the Level 3 Extended Certificate in Applied Science

4 The human body

Written exam Externally assessed

5 Investigating science

Portfolio Internally assessed

6a Microbiology Portfolio Internally assessed

8

What will happen in lessons?

The lessons will vary according to the subject and level but all students should experience

most of these activities:

Discussion - one to one or in groups

Research – group or individual using a variety of methods

Report writing – manually or using ICT

Practical work

Which styles of teaching will be used?

Different styles of teaching will be required throughout the course. This will depend on

the unit being taught, the stage of delivery and the type of assessment required for that unit.

Teacher input

At the start of a unit there will be a lot of teacher input; question and answer sessions,

discussions, note taking and handouts. This may all happen at the beginning of a unit or at

different points throughout the unit. It is important to note any information you are given,

as it may be required at a later stage in the unit.

Student investigation

Once the assignment has been explained and the tasks have been set, you will have to

work on your own to find the information you need and then you will have to produce the

information in a particular format to meet the requirements of the task. The work you

produce must be your own; word for word copying from a textbook, or copying and pasting

from the Internet will not be accepted nor will you be allowed to copy the work of other

students. You will have to check regularly with your teacher to make sure that your work is

correct and to discuss any ideas that you want to develop.

9

Group work

For some tasks you may have to work in a group, either to find information or to produce

evidence. This is quite acceptable providing that all students take an equal share of the

work and that individual contributions are identified.

Please keep in mind that as unit 3 is entirely practical based coursework, during

investigations, you can have the same results but the analysis of those results and

evaluation must be your own.

Practical Work

Practical activities may include experiments and investigations. You must follow all the

usual laboratory safety rules when doing practical work.

What will be expected of you? You will be expected to do all of the following as part of your day-to-day work Read and research

Keep a record of the information you find and the sources

Plan your work in a logical order and keep a record of your progress Talk to your teachers about your ideas and how to achieve the best results

Produce drafts and final copies of your work

Produce good quality work with high standards of grammar and spelling

Present your work in a suitable format according to the purpose and the audience Evaluate your work and make suggestions for improvement

Meet deadlines

Keep a record of the work you have completed, including the grades awarded

10

Overview of Grading Assessment of Unit 1 This unit will be assessed through an external examination, set and marked by AQA. The examination will take place under controlled examination conditions and the date will be published at the start of each academic year. The examination will consist of a written paper with three sections: • Section A – Applications of biology • Section B – Applications of chemistry • Section C – Applications of physics. Each section will be allocated 20 marks and will consist of short-answer questions based on the specification . Assessment outcome

Marks

Weighting

AO1 Understand key concepts in the application of biology

20 33.3%

AO2 Understand key concepts in the application of chemistry

20 33.3%

AO3 Understand key concepts in the application of physics

20 33.3%

Assessment of Unit 2

In order to meet the grading criteria, each learner’s portfolio should contain: • six reports, one for each applied experimental technique • three risk assessments completed by the learner without assistance, one for each of biology, chemistry and physics • three additional risk assessments for other techniques, issued by the tutor and used by the learner • one Witness confirmation form completed by the tutor. Grading criteria Performance

Pass Merit Distinction

11

outcomes

To achieve a pass the learner must evidence that they can:

In addition to the pass criteria, to achieve a merit the learner must evidence that they can:

In addition to fulfilling the pass and merit criteria, to achieve a distinction the learner must evidence that they can:

PO1 Demonstrate applied experimental techniques in biology

P1 Outline the physiological measurements used to measure rate of respiration and photosynthesis.

M1 Explain the scientific principles of physiological measurements.

D1 Explain how these physiological measurements can be applied in a medical or commercial context.

PO1(a) Rate of respiration

P2 Follow a standard procedure to measure the effect of varying one given factor on the rate of respiration of a living organism and record results.

M2 Use formulas/ calculations/graphical representations to explain the data.

D2 Evaluate the results and the method used.

PO1(b) The light-dependent reaction in photosynthesis (the Hill reaction)

P3 Follow a standard procedure to measure the Hill reaction and record results.

M3 Explain how this standard procedure could be adapted to investigate three limiting factors

PO3 Demonstrate applied experimental techniques in physics

P7 Explain the terms: • resistivity • specific heat capacity (SHC) in relation to material properties.

M7 Describe how the values of resistivity and SHC determine the uses of materials in industry.

PO3(a) Resistivity

P8 Follow a standard procedure to measure the resistivity of one material and record

M8 Compare results in resistivity with industry standard data, accounting for anomalous readings.

D5 Compare the methods used in industry to measure resistivity of materials, including

12

results. levels of accuracy and precision.

PO3(b) Specific heat capacity

P9 Follow a standard procedure to measure the SHC of one material and record results.

M9 Calculate percentage error and produce a graph to show change in temperature of one material over time and explain the shape of the graph.

D6 Explain how this standard procedure could be adapted to measure the SHC of a material which is in a different phase.

PO4 Understand safety procedure and risk assessment when undertaking scientific practical work

P10 In using experimental techniques: • safely use a range of practical equipment and materials • identify hazards • produce risk assessments for one applied experimental technique from each of biology, chemistry and physics.

Total UMS for each grade

40 76 100

13

Assessment of Unit 3 This unit will be assessed through an external examination set and marked by AQA. The examination will take place under controlled examination conditions and the date of the examination will be published at the start of each academic year. This unit will be available for assessment in January and June of each academic year. The examination will consist of a written paper, in two sections, with no optional questions. Learners will be allowed to use a non-programmable scientific calculator in the examination. The examination will last 1 hour and 30 minutes and the total number of marks available in the examination will be 60. AQA will ensure that the full content of the unit is covered equally over the life of the specification Section A A selection of background material on a topical scientific issue will be released to centres by AQA each year, and should be provided by centres to learners on or around 31 March (depending on the date of the Easter holiday) for June assessment and on or around 1 November for January assessment. (See section 12 for exam timetable). This pre-released material will be chosen by AQA for topical scientific interest and will usually consist of four ‘sources’. The range of pre-released materials provided for study is likely to include: • news article(s) from the popular press • longer review article(s) from popular media (weekend newspapers, general magazines) • article(s) from general science magazines (such as New Scientist, Scientific American) • material from specialist scientific sources aimed at informing the general public (such as general publications from the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Society, research councils) • paper(s) from scientific journals (edited where necessary to remove excessive detail and to emphasise the form of the paper and the argument; detailed understanding of complex scientific explanation in a specialist area will not be expected). Learners will be expected to familiarise themselves with the pre-released material in advance of the examination. In preparation for the exam, they should apply the same skills of analysis, interpretation and critical thinking that they have developed in meeting the assessment

14

outcomes of this unit. For example, they should consider how scientific issues are treated in the different types of media, make judgements about the relevance of the scientific information presented, and reflect on any ethical, environmental, political, moral, commercial and social issues associated with the scientific topic. Learners will then answer questions based on these sources in Section A of the Unit 3 examination. Learners will not be expected to carry out any wider reading around the scientific issue presented in the pre-released materials. Learners will be provided with clean copies of the pre-released materials in the examination. Section B Questions in Section B of the Unit 3 examination will not be based on the sources in the pre-released materials, and may or may not be based on the same topical scientific issues. This section will assess learners’ abilities to demonstrate Assessment outcomes 1–4.

15

How will standards of work be maintained? Internal Verification

This is a quality control check to ensure that all students’ work is being fairly marked and

standards are being maintained. When a unit of work has been assessed and graded it will

be passed to another teacher (if sharing the teaching of that unit) in the department who

will check that all of the tasks have been completed to the appropriate standard. It may be

necessary at this stage, for you, to amend your work, if it does not meet the standards set

by other students, who have been awarded the same grade. It will probably moderated by

the head of faculty.

Storage of work

You will be provided with a folder/book in which to keep your ongoing class work and

homework. You will be responsible for this and must bring it to all lessons. All completed,

graded work will be put into your master folder and will be stored in a class file until the

end of the unit. The work will then be moved to a filing cabinet until final moderation takes

place and the final marks have been submitted.

Handing in Assignments

You will be given a deadline for each assignment or section of assignment.

You will be given oral/written feedback within 2 weeks of handing your work in

Your teacher will then give you ONE MORE OPPORTUNITY to upgrade your work based

on the feedback you will be given. Your work will then be re-submitted to your teacher

within 2 WEEKS

Failure to meet deadlines

If you fail to hand in work by the agreed deadline you will need to provide evidence of

extenuating circumstance e.g. a Doctor’s Certificate. It will not be acceptable to say to

your teacher that you did not have time to complete the assignment

A failure on your part may result in you not having the opportunity to upgrade your

work.

16

Notice to Candidates

This part of the document tells you about some things that you must, and must not do when you are completing coursework. Before you submit any coursework for marking, you will be asked to sign an authentication statement confirming that you have read and followed these regulations. If there is anything that you do not understand, you must ask your teacher or lecturer. Coursework provides you with an opportunity to do some independent research into a topic. The research you do will involve looking for information in published sources such as textbooks, encyclopedias, journals, TV, radio, and on the internet. Using information from published sources (including the internet) as the basis for your coursework is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of a subject, but you must take care how you use this material - you cannot copy it and claim it as your own work. The regulations state that: “the work which you submit for assessment must be your own”; “you must not copy from someone else or allow another candidate to copy from you”. If you use the same wording as a published source, you must place quotation marks around the passage and state where it came from. This is called “referencing”. You must make sure that you give detailed references for everything in your work which is not in your own words. A reference from a printed book or journal should show the name of the author, the year of publication and the page number, for example: (Morrison, 2000, pg.29). For material taken from the internet, your reference should show the date when the material was downloaded and must show the precise web page, not the search engine used to locate it. This can be copied from the address line. For example: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/16/sosteacher/history/49766.shtml), downloaded 12 February 2011. You must also include a bibliography at the end of your work, which lists the full details of publications you have used in your research, even where these are not directly referred to, for example: Morrison, A. (2000) “Mary, Queen of Scots”, London: Weston Press. If you copy the words or ideas of others and don’t show your sources in references and a bibliography, this will be considered as cheating.

17

Preparing your coursework – good practice

If you receive help and guidance from someone other than your teacher, you must tell your teacher who will then record the nature of the assistance given to you. If you worked as part of a group on an assignment, for example, undertaking field research, you must each write up your own account of the assignment. Even if the data you have is the same, the description of how that data was obtained and the conclusions you draw from it should be in your own words. You must meet the deadlines that your teacher gives you for submitting drafts and final pieces of work. Your teachers are there to guide and assist you — showing them your work as it progresses will allow you and your teacher time to sort out any problems before it is too late. Take care of your work and keep it safe. Don’t leave it lying around where your classmates can find it. You must always keep your coursework secure and confidential whilst you are preparing it; do not share it with your classmates. If it is stored on the computer network, keep your password secure. Collect all copies from the printer and destroy those you don’t need. Don’t be tempted to use essays from online essay banks — this is cheating. Electronic tools used by awarding bodies can detect this sort of copying.

18

Plagiarism

Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts or ideas and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously. Don’t think you won’t be caught; there are many ways to detect plagiarism.

Markers can spot changes in the style of writing and use of language.

topic concerned — they may have read the source you are using (or even marked the essay you have copied from!).

pieces of text with original sources and to detect changes in the grammar and style of writing or punctuation.

19

Useful Science Websites AQA site page for the course : http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/applied-general/science Specimen exam papers and coursework tasks http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/applied-general/science/assessment-resources

Biology

TSR Biology Revision Notes TSR Biology Help forum BioMarks Useful Scientific Website directory BiologyMad.com Mark Rothery's Biology Web Site Cells Alive Kimball's Biology Pages Human Anatomy Human Anatomy and Physiology DNA From the Beginning Insectclopedia Archy de Berker's Biology Site

Chemistry

TSR Chemistry Revision Notes TSR Chemistry Help Forum ChemFinder.com ChemGuide Doc Brown's Chemistry Clinic IB Chemistry Interactive Syllabus and notes Organic Reactions Revision Page MSN Chemistry Homework Group Rod's Chemistry Pages Chemsheets.co.uk Re:act - Nuffield Advanced Chemistry Periodic Table and Chemical Solutions Calculator (download) Chemistry Rules!

20

Physics

TSR Physics Revision Notes Cramster Study Help & Community TSR Physics Help Forum Physics.Org Advancing Physics Physics@ScienceWorld The Physics Classroom Physics Forums Hyper-Physics The Particle Adventure SpaceandMotion.com Astronomy Lots of Useful GCSE, AS and A2 Level Material

General

The Naked Scientists BetterHumans.com ScienceBlogs BBC - Science and Nature New Scientist Nature.com Scientific American Sam Davyson Revision Notes Dyanmic learning Journals