Just a reminder that there will be an extra AS Science revision session this Tuesday, 27th May (i.e. during half-term) from 12 to 2pm. Please meet at the Science Block at 12pm and bring with you all of your AS revision materials plus both your mock papers.
Next week, following feedback that I have had from you so far, we will have final revision sessions on Tuesday, 3rd and Wednesday, 4th June for an hour after school.
Happy revising!
Monday, 26 May 2008
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Coursework
I hope this afternoon's AS session has got you all thinking about what you might like to read as part of you 'critical accound of scientific reading' coursework. Remember, your piece of work could be based on:
* 10000-12000 words from a non-fiction science book such as 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (by Bill Bryson), 'A Brief History of Time' (by Stephen Hawking) or 'The Ascent of Man' (by Jacob Bronowski).
* 10000-12000 words from a fictional science book such as 'Frankenstein' (by Mary Shelley) or 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (by Douglas Adams).
* Comparing 2 or 3 articles, essays or poems on the same scientific idea but from different journals.
Work for next week's session:
Please choose a science-related journal article, newspaper story or extract from a book to read and review over the next week. Your review should include:
* Details of the main scientific points and explanations;
* Details of the intended audience, style of writing and purpose of the book/article;
* Your personal opinion on the book/article;
* Details of whether or not you think the book/article is pitched at the correct level for the intended audience;
* Details of whether or not you feel the book/article fulfils its purpose.
Please bring your completed reviews to our next session - Thursday, 17th January - and be prepared to present your work to the rest of the group.
It would be really good if you were to write your reviews up on computer so that we can create a display of your work in the Science Department. I would suggest aiming for a whole side of A4, increasing the size of your font, spacing out the lines or adding relevant diagrams if necessary!
REMEMBER: The purpose of this activity is to encourage you to ENJOY reading about science so please choose something that you are interested in!
Happy reading!
* 10000-12000 words from a non-fiction science book such as 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (by Bill Bryson), 'A Brief History of Time' (by Stephen Hawking) or 'The Ascent of Man' (by Jacob Bronowski).
* 10000-12000 words from a fictional science book such as 'Frankenstein' (by Mary Shelley) or 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (by Douglas Adams).
* Comparing 2 or 3 articles, essays or poems on the same scientific idea but from different journals.
Work for next week's session:
Please choose a science-related journal article, newspaper story or extract from a book to read and review over the next week. Your review should include:
* Details of the main scientific points and explanations;
* Details of the intended audience, style of writing and purpose of the book/article;
* Your personal opinion on the book/article;
* Details of whether or not you think the book/article is pitched at the correct level for the intended audience;
* Details of whether or not you feel the book/article fulfils its purpose.
Please bring your completed reviews to our next session - Thursday, 17th January - and be prepared to present your work to the rest of the group.
It would be really good if you were to write your reviews up on computer so that we can create a display of your work in the Science Department. I would suggest aiming for a whole side of A4, increasing the size of your font, spacing out the lines or adding relevant diagrams if necessary!
REMEMBER: The purpose of this activity is to encourage you to ENJOY reading about science so please choose something that you are interested in!
Happy reading!
Sunday, 23 December 2007
Well done!
Well done to you all for achieving a pass grade or higher in your mock this week! You may wish to work towards a higher grade in June (and I hope you all do!) but at this stage you should all be extremely proud that you have shown that you are working at AS level standard - after just 2 months of doing the course (not to mention a year early)!
Have a fantastic Christmas and I'll see you all at our first session of the term on Tuesday, 8th January.
Have a fantastic Christmas and I'll see you all at our first session of the term on Tuesday, 8th January.
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Revision Resources
Sorry it's taken me so long, but I have finally uploaded some revision resources that I hope you will be able to use over the weekend. Just click on 'Summary sheets for each topic' or 'Practice exam questions' (to the righthand side of this post, just above the vote!) and that will take you to a different website.
By then right-clicking on each of the listed revision resources, you should be able to do 'Save Target As' and then open the resource. (It might take a few minutes, so please be patient!)
Please let me know if you are unable to access the resources (by adding a comment to this post) and I will email them to you.
I would recommend that you focus on the topics that you have missed due to being unable to attend enrichment sessions - also, make sure that you have a go at some exam questions too!
Good luck in the exam on Monday!
By then right-clicking on each of the listed revision resources, you should be able to do 'Save Target As' and then open the resource. (It might take a few minutes, so please be patient!)
Please let me know if you are unable to access the resources (by adding a comment to this post) and I will email them to you.
I would recommend that you focus on the topics that you have missed due to being unable to attend enrichment sessions - also, make sure that you have a go at some exam questions too!
Good luck in the exam on Monday!
Sunday, 9 December 2007
For those of you who couldn't make it to our enrichment session last Thursday, just to let you know that we consolidated the work done so far by working in pairs to summarise each of the topics. I will put a link on the blog sometime this week so that you can download the notes that we made.
The work set as homework was to produce a timeline to show the history of evolution, including the life of Charles Darwin and details of his theory of evolution. Please make every effort to do this before our next session on Wednesday (12th December), as our work during the session will assume that you have a detailed knowledge of this so that we can use our time to discuss more higher level ideas relating to evolution.
I know that things are stressful at the moment with your mock exams having started and coursework being due in, but being part of this AS course is something fantastic that you are doing and it really is worth making the commitment. I would like to see you all focusing on achieving the best you possibly can, rather than taking part a bit half-heartedly and putting it at the bottom of your list of priorities. Just think ahead to Thursday, 14th August 2008 when you will receive your result and how amazing you'll feel to have achieved a proper AS qualification a year earlier than anyone else in Year 11 at Cavendish (and probably most other people your age in the country!).
See you on Wednesday.
The work set as homework was to produce a timeline to show the history of evolution, including the life of Charles Darwin and details of his theory of evolution. Please make every effort to do this before our next session on Wednesday (12th December), as our work during the session will assume that you have a detailed knowledge of this so that we can use our time to discuss more higher level ideas relating to evolution.
I know that things are stressful at the moment with your mock exams having started and coursework being due in, but being part of this AS course is something fantastic that you are doing and it really is worth making the commitment. I would like to see you all focusing on achieving the best you possibly can, rather than taking part a bit half-heartedly and putting it at the bottom of your list of priorities. Just think ahead to Thursday, 14th August 2008 when you will receive your result and how amazing you'll feel to have achieved a proper AS qualification a year earlier than anyone else in Year 11 at Cavendish (and probably most other people your age in the country!).
See you on Wednesday.
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Revision tips
Please share your revision tips for success in the AS exams!
What do you feel are the most important things that you must remember to do (or remember not to do!) when answering exam questions? Please add your suggestions as a comment to this post.
Remember, your mock exam for the AS is on Monday, 17th December during Lesson 1.
I look forward to reading about your ideas!
Please also take part in the vote (on the right-hand side of this blog page) to share your feelings about the AS course so far. It's anonymous so don't worry about anyone knowing what you voted!
What do you feel are the most important things that you must remember to do (or remember not to do!) when answering exam questions? Please add your suggestions as a comment to this post.
Remember, your mock exam for the AS is on Monday, 17th December during Lesson 1.
I look forward to reading about your ideas!
Please also take part in the vote (on the right-hand side of this blog page) to share your feelings about the AS course so far. It's anonymous so don't worry about anyone knowing what you voted!
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to our new blog for the elite little band of Year 11 students doing the AS in 'Science for Public Understanding'!
I hope that it will help to improve communication between staff and students, and provide you with another way in which to seek help, develop your understanding/skills and (in the longer-term) support each other.
I have made you all 'authors' of this site, so please feel free to write your own posts on things that you think others will be interested in, or to share study tips - or even to ask for help! Even better, try to log-on regularly to the site so that you can add comments to posts made by other students in our group.
Your (constructive) feedback about the blog and what you would like to be included on it would be much appreciated.
I hope that it will help to improve communication between staff and students, and provide you with another way in which to seek help, develop your understanding/skills and (in the longer-term) support each other.
I have made you all 'authors' of this site, so please feel free to write your own posts on things that you think others will be interested in, or to share study tips - or even to ask for help! Even better, try to log-on regularly to the site so that you can add comments to posts made by other students in our group.
Your (constructive) feedback about the blog and what you would like to be included on it would be much appreciated.
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