Thursday, 26 November 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
How science works
This includes scientific method and the way scientific knowledge develops.
Developing ideas and theories lies at the heart of science. 'How science works' focuses on the evidence to support or refute these ideas and theories. The evidence comes from the collection and creative interpretation of data, both of which need to be considered.
Consequently, in order to understand how science works, learners need skills such as practical collection of data, working safely, presenting scientific information; they need to understand the power of science to explain phenomena, the way understanding of science changes over time and the applications of contemporary scientific developments.
How Science Works key words
Accuracy An accurate measurement is close to the true value.
Reliability The trustworthiness of data collected.
Valid data Evidence that can be reproduced by others and answers the original question.
Precision Where your repeat results are very close to each other. This is related to the smallest scale division on the measuring instrument used.
Opinion Opinions are personal judgements. Opinions can be formed from scientific evidence or non-scientific ideas.
Hypothesis Using theory to suggest explanations for observations. E.g. ‘I think that the plants are smaller because they do not have enough water.’
Evidence Scientific evidence should be reliable and valid. It can take many forms. It could be an observation, a measurement or data that somebody else has obtained.
Conclusion A conclusion considers the results and states how those results match the hypothesis. The conclusion must not go beyond the data available.
Categoric variable These tell us the name of the variable e.g. copper, iron, magnesium.
Continuous variable A continuous variable can be any numerical value, e.g. your own weight.
Discrete variable These are numerical, but can only be whole numbers e.g. numbers of layers of insulation.
Ordered variable Variables that can be put into an order e.g. small, large, huge lumps of rock. These tell us more than categoric variables.
Control variable These are the variables that might affect your result and therefore must be kept the same for a valid investigation. E.g. volume of acid used.
Dependent variable The variable that you are measuring as a result of changing the independent variable. E.g. the volume of CO2 produced.
Independent variable The variable that you have decided to change in an investigation. E.g. temperature of the acid. These are the variables that might affect your result and therefore must be kept the same for a valid investigation. E.g. volume of acid used.
Thanks to http://10l1.blogspot.com/
Reliability The trustworthiness of data collected.
Valid data Evidence that can be reproduced by others and answers the original question.
Precision Where your repeat results are very close to each other. This is related to the smallest scale division on the measuring instrument used.
Opinion Opinions are personal judgements. Opinions can be formed from scientific evidence or non-scientific ideas.
Hypothesis Using theory to suggest explanations for observations. E.g. ‘I think that the plants are smaller because they do not have enough water.’
Evidence Scientific evidence should be reliable and valid. It can take many forms. It could be an observation, a measurement or data that somebody else has obtained.
Conclusion A conclusion considers the results and states how those results match the hypothesis. The conclusion must not go beyond the data available.
Categoric variable These tell us the name of the variable e.g. copper, iron, magnesium.
Continuous variable A continuous variable can be any numerical value, e.g. your own weight.
Discrete variable These are numerical, but can only be whole numbers e.g. numbers of layers of insulation.
Ordered variable Variables that can be put into an order e.g. small, large, huge lumps of rock. These tell us more than categoric variables.
Control variable These are the variables that might affect your result and therefore must be kept the same for a valid investigation. E.g. volume of acid used.
Dependent variable The variable that you are measuring as a result of changing the independent variable. E.g. the volume of CO2 produced.
Independent variable The variable that you have decided to change in an investigation. E.g. temperature of the acid. These are the variables that might affect your result and therefore must be kept the same for a valid investigation. E.g. volume of acid used.
Thanks to http://10l1.blogspot.com/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
What are the OCR grade boundaries in the GCSE courses?
As a rough guide you can say
The following site gives the information below
http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/faqs/what-are-the-ocr-grade-boundaries-in-the-gcse-science-course,207,FAQ.html
The following site gives the information below
http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/faqs/what-are-the-ocr-grade-boundaries-in-the-gcse-science-course,207,FAQ.html
Here's the current information given by OCR the awarding body. They will also publish specific grade boundaries and raw scores for the January and June exams with the results.
As a rough guide, the Foundation tier papers are targeted at 70% of the marks at low demand (grades E, F, G, U) and 30% at standard demand (C and D). The Higher papers are targeted at 50% standard demand and 50% high demand (A*, A, B).
Anyone getting 75-80% on a Foundation paper should be on C level. On Higher papers 50% for C, and 75-80% for A is an again rough guide for attainment.
The exact boundaries will vary from paper to paper at awarding
Thursday, 5 November 2009
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