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!

January 6th, 2011

Happy New Year from the NQ Sciences team!

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Sciences, National Qualifications, SQA, Scottish National Qualifications

Hi Folks! Happy New Year from everyone on the National Qualifications Sciences Team at LTS! We hope you’ve had a lovely restful break and wish you all the best for 2011!

The NQ Sciences team is looking forward to the busy few months ahead! We will be working with our key partner organisations at engagements with the profession as the launch of the CfE-inspired Highers in June 2011 comes ever closer. We will also be supporting the work of SQA as they consult with teachers all over the country on the design of the new Advanced Higher Sciences (in time for a June 2012 launch date!). In addition, we will continue to support the development of the new CfE qualifications at National 4 and 5 levels as part of the Qualification Design teams.

Watch this space for regular news updates on all of these activities!

December 22nd, 2010

Another new Higher Physics Resource! ‘The Standard Model’

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Physics, National Qualifications, Scottish National Qualifications, Uncategorized, resources

In the 1970s, physicists developed a theory called ‘The Standard Model‘ which gives us a remarkable insight into the fundamental structure of matter in the Universe. The ‘Standard Model’ describes the twelve basic building blocks of the universe (called ‘fundamental particles’) and also looks into the ‘fundamental forces’ governing these particles.

A set of teachers notes to support teachers with the delivery of this modern content within the ‘Particles and Waves’ unit of the new CfE-inspired Higher Physics can be found on the National Qualifications page and also on the NQ Physics Glow group.

We hope you like them!

December 22nd, 2010

New Higher Physics Resource: Special Relativity

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Physics, National Qualifications, Scottish National Qualifications, resources

The ‘Our Dynamic Universe’ unit of the CfE-inspired Higher Physics contains a brand-new topic on ‘Special Relativity’. Special Relativity is a complex scientific theory which was developed by Albert Einstein in 1905. One of its key conclusions is that the speed of light is constant for all observers in the universe!

The inclusion of this conceptually difficult piece of modern physics within the new CfE-inspired Higher Physics curriculum is both inspirational and challenging to teachers and students. In order to support teachers with the delivery of this new content, an extensive set of teachers notes have been produced by LTS.

This resource can be found on the National Qualifications website, and also in the NQ Physics Glow Group!

Happy reading!

December 22nd, 2010

New Higher Chemistry Resource: Functional Groups in Complex Molecules and their effect on Physical Properties

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Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Higher Chemistry, National Qualifications, SQA, Scottish National Qualifications, Uncategorized, resources

Check out an exciting new set of resources to support the ‘Consumer Chemistry’ and ‘Periodicity, Polarity & Properties’ units of the new CfE-inspired Higher Chemistry. The resource consists of an interactive PowerPoint presentation which could be used to introduce the concepts involved, plus a sample set of pupil problems, with associated answers.

The resources support learners and teachers with a new style of exam question which the SQA will include in the CfE-inspired Higher Chemistry. This new question style requires students to identify key functional groups within complex organic molecules, and then to link the presence of certain functional groups to the molecule’s physical properties. Physical properties such as solubility, melting and boiling point and viscosity are included.

The resources can be found both on the National Qualifications website and on the NQ Chemistry Glow Group, and could be used to support aspects of the current and the CFE-inspired Highers in Chemistry.

Let us know if you find them useful!

December 16th, 2010

Physics CPD on Open-Ended Questions in South Ayrshire

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Higher Physics, National Qualifications, Open-Ended Questions, SQA, Scottish National Qualifications

Open-ended questions in the new Higher Physics were the topic for a CPD session held at Marr College, South Ayrshire on the 14th December 2010. The session allowed physics teachers to consider the benefits and challenges offered by incorporating these questions into the curriculum.

The ‘open-ended questions teacher’s guide’ housed on the NQ website was the basis of the core activities during this session. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments!

December 15th, 2010

Developing Skills within new National Qualifications

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Comments: none Tags:  : Categories National Qualifications, Open-Ended Questions, Scottish National Qualifications, Uncategorized, resources

’Building the Curriculum 4′ (the skills framework) states that every learner is entitled to the opportunity to develop skills for learning, life and work. This entitlement extends right through from the early years to the senior phase.

As a result, one of the greatest challenges facing the Qualification Design Teams (QDTs) is to ensure that skills development is given a high priority within the new National 4/5 qualifications. Which skills are key within each subject, how will they be assessed, and how can teachers be supported in delivering these skills?

The process of skills development within the new CfE-inspired Higher Sciences was spotlighted at a recent meeting of QDT reps. It was noted that key ’generic’ skills were embedded throughout the course, but delivered within a specific scientific context. For example, numeracy skills were more particularly described as ‘skills of processing and analysing scientific data’; literacy skills were ’skills of writing an effective scientific communication’; communication skills included ‘carrying out effective-web-research’ or ‘producing an investigation report as a video/ scientific poster/ report/ etc’; higher-order thinking skills were promoted through the use of ‘open-ended questions’…

A number of the latest Higher Science resources supporting skills development were used to illustrate the types of support which might be provided by LTS for N4/5 qualifications. The Powerpoint Presentation used is available in the ‘presentations’ page on the National Qualifications Glow group under the heading ‘LTS/SQA Joint Event SKILLS’.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how skills should be delivered in the new NQs!