Introduction

The course could be taught by any member of the Science Department staff. However, the separate areas of science are maintained and taught by specialist teachers.

Examining Board

AQA – Specifications 4462 and 4463

Assessment

Examination: 75%

Science
Three written papers of 45 minutes, one in each of the science subjects. These consist of structured, short answer questions and are available in two tiers: Higher (Grades A*-D) and
Foundation (Grades C-G).

Additional Science
Three written papers of 45 minutes, one in each of the science subjects. Again these consist of structured, short answer questions and are also available in two tiers: Higher (Grades A*-D) and Foundation (Grades C-G).

Centre-Assessed Unit: 25%   
This unit comprises an Investigative Skills Assignment (ISA), which is normal class practical work followed by an externally set, internally assessed test taking 45 minutes, and a Practical Skills Assessment (PSA) which is a holistic practical skills assessment.
This unit is done under test conditions, supervised by the class teacher. There is no longer a coursework component completed at home. Pupils will probably complete several ISAs and PSAs but only have to submit one per qualification.

Course content

The specification continues to develop the work done in KS3 and maintains the distinctive nature of the three separate sciences.

- Biology:          Life processes and living things
- Chemistry:      Materials and their properties
- Physics:          Physical processes

Units 1+2 are covered in the Science plus Additional Science course and Unit 3 in the Separate Science course.

Please see the course content for the Separate Science courses for further detail.

How Science Works – covered through all of the science courses

- The thinking behind the doing
- Fundamental Ideas
- Observation as a stimulus to investigation
- Designing an investigation
- Making measurements
- Presenting data
- Using data to draw conclusions
- Societal aspects of scientific evidence
- Limitations of scientific evidence

Homework

Homework will consist of questions to consolidate work covered in a lesson, or to introduce the next lesson. Pupils will regularly be tested on lesson content and will usually complete an end of topic test. They will be given advance warning of any end of topic tests and will only be expected to spend their normal homework time revising for them. Pupils should see this as an integral part of their science courses. It will prove extremely beneficial for them to learn work throughout the year, as they will often need some knowledge and understanding to move on to the next topic. It will also help them to improve their examination technique and help staff to identify areas of weakness to work upon and not leave pupils with a large amount of unfamiliar work to learn for the end of year examinations.

However, in line with the changes in the specifications, the emphasis of many homework exercises will address skills such as the mathematics and ICT skills required; they will involve activities designed to improve pupils’ ability to debate and discuss topics, considering all evidence available to them and developing opinions based on valid and reliable evidence; they will learn how to design experiments and analyse and evaluate results and will consider the limitations of scientific evidence.