Physics and Chemistry in Context

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Physics and Chemistry in Context

• The Queensland Story

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Background

• 1910 1972 external examination era
• 1973 1978 school-based assessment era
  (Radford norm referenced)
• 1978 present school-based assessment era
  (ROSBA criteria referenced)

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Curriculum

• In 1971 the Board of Secondary School Studies was
  established to
• maintain comparability of grading
• approve syllabuses recommended by the Subject
  Advisory Committees

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Curriculum Framework for Syllabuses

• Rationale
• Global aims
• General objectives
• Organisation (subject matter, time etc)
• Learning experiences
• Assessment
• Resources

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New Science

• Physics and Chemistry
• ? Themes
• ? Key concepts
• ? Key ideas
• ? Contexts

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What is a context

• A context is defined as a group of related
  situations, phenomena, technological applications
  and social issues that are likely to be
  encountered by students.
• A context provides a meaningful application of
  concepts and ideas in real world situations.

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Organisation of a course of study
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Examples of Contexts

• Chemistry
• Agriculture
• Photography
• Wine making
• Man made materials
• Drugs medicine

• Physics
• Amusement park
• Building a surfboard
• Medical physics

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Assessment

• Authentic
• Meaningful
• Extension of the learning experiences

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Assessment types

• Extended experimental investigation
• Extended response task
• Written task

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Extended Experimental Investigation (EEI)

• Requires students to
• plan a course of action
• conduct experiment(s)
• collect necessary primary and secondary data
• organise and analyse data
• reach a justified conclusion
• communicate in an appropriate genre (e.g.,
  investigative report, scientific poster,
  non-written presentation)
• The task may be conducted in groups.

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Extended Response Task (ERT)

• Possible modes of delivery include written, oral,
  performance or production. For example
• Assignment
• Non-written presentation
• Report
• Response to stimulus

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Written Task (WT)

• Could include a variety of items from the
  following
• practical exercises using graphs, tables,
  diagrams and data
• extended answer questions
• short answer questions and objective questions
• definitions, one-word answer questions, multiple
  choice questions
• response to seen and unseen stimulus material.

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Moderation

• Monitoring
• End of Year 11
• 5 student samples reviewed by a panel of teachers
• Focus
• Syllabus requirements met
• Consistency of teacher judgment
• Feedback to schools

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Moderation

• Verification
• October Year 12
• Typically 9 student sample folios
• Focus
• Judgment regarding level of achievement
• Quality of assessment
• ? Negotiations open until exit (November)