National Qualifications - Sciences

February 21st, 2011

Biology - Scientific Experimentation, Investigation & Enquiry Skills

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Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Higher Biology, National Qualifications, Scottish National Qualifications, resources

Calling all Biology Teachers! Do your learners end up wasting time when looking for information on the internet? Check out two brand-new resources designed to enable students of the new Higher Biology to develop the skills of effective and informed web-based research - an introductory Powerpoint presentation and an interactive pupil resource.

Also, have a look at this new resource designed to help learners develop their skills of scientific experimentation, investigation and enquiry. Starting from a simple experiment based upon investigating respiration rate in germinating peas using a datalogger, learners are encouraged to consider each of the stages involved in conducting an effective scientific investigation and what their results actually mean. Extension activities are also suggested.

Tell us what you think of these resources!

February 21st, 2011

New Higher Chemistry Resource - Processing and Analysing Data

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Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Advanced Higher investigations, Higher Chemistry, National Qualifications, Researching Chemistry, Scottish National Qualifications, resources

Chemistry Teachers are spoiled for choice with fabulous new resources these days! Check out yet another brand-new resource supporting skills development within the ‘Researching Chemistry’ unit of the revised Higher Chemistry.

The resource consists of a pupil activity pack and a teacher’ guide. It enables students to develop and practice the key skills of ‘Processing and Analysing Data’ which are essential to effectively carrying out an investigative task at Higher Chemistry level. The resource addresses a range of important topics such as plotting scatter graphs, the benefits of carrying out replicate measurements, identification and elimination of ‘rogue points’, calculating mean values, appreciating the relative accuracy of volumetric apparatus, qualitative understanding of uncertainty, etc.

This resource would also provide an excellent preparation for current Advanced Higher students in the skills required to successfully write-up their investigation report.

Let us know if you like it!

February 21st, 2011

New Higher Physics Resource - Earthquakes!

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Comments: 2 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Higher Physics, National Qualifications, Researching Physics, Scottish National Qualifications, resources

Check out another brilliant, brand-new resource which has just been produced for the new Higher Physics. The resource is on the topic of ‘Earthquakes‘ and is designed to support the ‘Researching Physics’ unit of the new Higher.

The ‘Researching Physics’ unit helps learners to develop the specific transferable scientific skills which will enable them to make sense of the modern scientific world and to make a smooth progression to further study in S6, college, university, work or life!

This exemplar has been developed in conjunction with SSERC and the British Geological Survey, and provides a challenging and thought-provoking context for the development of scientific investigative skills.

What do you think of it?

February 18th, 2011

Higher Chemistry Skills Resource - Effective Communication

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Chemistry, National Qualifications, Researching Chemistry, resources

Calling all Chemistry Teachers! Check out a brilliant new skills resource to support pupils undertaking the ‘Researching Chemistry’ unit of the new Higher. The purpose of this resource is to enable students to develop the skills of effective scientific communication within a chemistry context.

The resource provides opportunities to learn and practice the key skills of scientific writing (e.g. writing in the past tense/passive voice), to identify the key stages in all forms of scientific communication (aim, procedure, results, etc), and to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of a number of traditional (e.g. lab-report, scientific paper, PowerPoint presentation, scientific poster) and more modern means of scientific communication (videos, blogs, podcasts, etc).

This resource will help prepare Higher Chemistry students to independently produce their own effective scientific communication at the end of the ‘Researching Chemistry’ half-unit. The resource would also be very helpful for current Advanced Higher students preparing to write up their investigation unit.

Let us know what you think about this resource!

February 17th, 2011

INSET Training in Aberdeenshire and Highland Regions

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Biology, Higher Chemistry, Higher Physics, Higher Sciences

Science Development Officers representing Biology, Chemistry and Physics have been very busy this week delivering CPD to hundreds of science teachers from Aberdeenshire and Highland regions on their subject INSET days.

The venue for the Aberdeenshire teachers’ meeting was Westhill Academy and the Highland teachers’ meeting was held in Millburn Academy in Inverness.

The main focus of the CPD was an update on the latest progress in the revised Highers in the four sciences. The powerpoint presentations from these events will be made available in the NQ Science Glow Groups by the end of this week.

February 1st, 2011

Freebies for Higher Chemistry and Physics!

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Chemistry, Higher Physics, Scottish National Qualifications, Uncategorized, early-adopters, early-adopting schools, resources

Good news for teachers of Higher Chemistry and Higher Physics! Free, printed versions of three brand-new resources for each subject have been distributed to all Scottish schools this week! Look out for these in a mailbox near you soon!

The online version of these resources are also available on the National Qualifications site on the LTS website. These are just a sample of the many excellent new resources which have been produced to support the new Highers in Physics and Chemistry.

The titles which have been distributed in print for Higher Chemistry are;

1. Open-Ended Questions in Higher Chemistry - Teachers Guide
2. Carrying Out Effective Web-Based Research in Chemistry
3. Identifying Functional Groups in Complex Molecules

For Higher Physics, the printed resources which have been sent to schools are;

1. Open-Ended Questions in Higher Physics - Teachers Guide
2. Relativity - Teachers Guide
3. The Standard Model - Teachers Guide

Let us know if you find these useful!