Teachingand

assessingscience
practicalskills

DaveHayward
CambridgeTrainer
28th30thFebruary2013

UniversityofCambridgeInternationalExaminations2012

Welcome and Introduction

Who am I? Dave Hayward

32 years experience of teaching Biology, retired HOD
Principal Examiner for IGCSE Biology
Author of IGCSE Study Guide for Biology, Teaching
and Assessing Practical Skills in Science
Editor of IGCSE Biology (D.G.Mackean)
Overseas training in Namibia, Swaziland, South
Africa, America + lectures in London and Berlin

Gateshead(NortheastEngland)

Courseobjectives
to increase understanding of the assessment
objectives relating to practical skills in
Cambridge IGCSE and O level examinations
to explore ways of helping students to improve
their practical skills
to consider potential problems associated with
doing practical work in schools, and to find
solutions to these

Courseobjectives
to look at the standards of practical skills
required for particular grades
to consider the pros and cons of the various
options for the final assessment of practical
skills
to share good practice and exchange ideas

Courseoutline
Session 1

9.0010.30

The scientific enquiry assessment objectives

The various assessment options for practical
skills
The C1

Courseoutline
Session 2

11.0012.30

Good practice in the C2 skills

Standards in C2 assess candidates work
Importance of feedback using AfL to help to
develop practical skills

Courseoutline
Session 3

13.3015.00

Practical session 1: hands-on practical work

to develop C1 and C2 skills

Courseoutline
Session 4

15.3017.00

Discussion of issues arising from Session 3:

logistics, laboratory design, availability of
apparatus and materials, risk assessments,
group and individual work, the teachers role
Resources

Courseoutline
Session 5

9.0010.30

Skills C3 and C4 - what these entail

Good practice in these skills
The concept of experimental error
Assessing students work for C3

Courseoutline
Session 6

11.0012.30

Practical session 2: hands-on practical work

to develop C3 and C4 skills

Courseoutline
Session 7

13.3015.00

Discussion of issues arising from the

practical session
Assessment of work for C4
Differentiation
Lesson plans

Courseoutline
Session 8

15.3017.00

Feedback from groups on work done in

Session 7
Plenary
Keeping in touch

Session1
The scientific enquiry skills what they are
and how they are assessed
A first look at the Skills of C1

Scientificenquiryassessment
objectives(seehandout2)
C1 know how to use techniques, apparatus and materials
(including the following of a sequence of instructions, where
appropriate)
C2 make and record observations and measurements
C3 interpret and evaluate experimental observations and
data
C4 plan investigations, evaluate methods and suggest
possible improvements (including the selection of
techniques, apparatus and materials)

OptionsforassessmentIGCSE
Paper 4 Teacher assessment of coursework
The teacher assesses the students throughout
their course.
A sample of the coursework is sent to
Cambridge to be checked by external
moderators.

OptionsforassessmentIGCSE
Paper 5 Practical examination
The assessment is made through a practical
examination taken in a laboratory.
The students write answers on the
examination paper, which is returned to
Cambridge to be marked by examiners.

OptionsforassessmentIGCSE
Paper 6 Alternative to practical paper
The assessment is made through a written
paper taken in a normal examination room.
Students write answers on the examination
paper, which is returned to Cambridge to be
marked by examiners.

Identifyingtheskills
Please find:
Paper 0654/51 May/June 2012
Paper 0654/61 May/June 2012
Which skills are being tested in each part question?

Whatismeantbyfamiliarapparatus?
(See handouts 3 and 4)

Waysofintroducingequipmenttoyour
students
(see handouts 5 and 6)
(note: there is no list in the Physics syllabus)

Waysofgivingstudentsinstructionsfor
practicals
(see handout 7)

Introducesafetyatanearlystage!
(see handout 8
2 documents)

AssessmentobjectiveC1
know how to use techniques, apparatus and
materials (including the following of a
sequence of instructions, where appropriate)

AssessmentobjectiveC1
The coursework (Paper 4) criteria provide more
information about what is required for C1.
It is useful to consider these even if you are not
entering students for Paper 4.

CriteriaforC1

AssessmentobjectiveC1
Please find pages 25, 26-27 and 28 in the booklet
called Coursework Training Handbook
(Part 1):Guidance
For the worksheet in your own subject area,
consider how well this activity would help
students to develop the C1 skills.

Session2
Good practice in C2
Standards, feedback and progression in C2

AssessmentobjectiveC2
make and record observations and
measurements

CriteriaforC2

AssessmentobjectiveC2
Please find pages 30, 32 and 34 in the
Coursework Training Handbook
(Part 1):Guidance booklet
For the worksheet in your own subject area,
consider how well this activity would help
students to develop the C2 skills.

Drawings

in pencil
single, clear lines
no shading
label lines drawn with a ruler
label lines touch what is being labelled
labels written horizontally
label lines do not cross

Pleasefind:
Page 12 in the Coursework Training Handbook
(Part 1): Guidance booklet

Resultscharts
drawn with a ruler
headings include units (no units within the
table)
all readings to the same number of decimal
places
descriptive entries (e.g. of colours or other
observations) should be worded simply

Pleasefind:
Page 11 of the Coursework Training Handbook
(Part 1): Guidance booklet

Sharinglearningobjectivesandusing
successcriteria
The importance of sharing learning objectives
and using success criteria
(see handout 9)
What is assessment for learning?
Using self-assessment and peer assessment
(see handouts 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D)

Pleasefind:
Paper 0654/51:
pages 2, 3, 4, 12 and 13
Paper 0654/61:
pages 2, 3, 6, 15, 16
Which questions test C2?

AssessingstudentsworkforC2
Please find pages 66 and 68 in the Coursework
Training Handbook (Part 1): Guidance booklet
Comment on the students results chart.
Read the qualitative observations on page 69, and
comment on these.

AssessingstudentsworkforC2
Please find pages 75, 82 and 85 in the
Coursework Training Handbook (Part 1):
Guidance booklet
Comment on the students results charts.

AssessingstudentsworkforC2
Please find pages 90 and 92 in the
Coursework Training Handbook (Part 1):
Guidance booklet
Comment on the students results chart.

Session3
Practicalsession1
Developing and assessing C1 and C2

Practicalsession1
Please find the handouts for:
Experiments 1 and 2 (chemistry)
or
Experiments 3 and 4 (physics)
or
Experiments 5 and 6 (biology)

Session4
Doingpracticalworkwhyshouldweand
howcanwe?

You don't understand anything until you learn it

more than one way. - Marvin Minsky

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but

if you can teach him to learn by creating
curiosity, he will continue the learning process
as long as he lives. - Clay P. Bedford

Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds,

bursting with its own corrections. You can keep
your sterile truth for yourself. - Vilfredo Pareto

I hear and I forget;

I see and I remember;
I do and I understand.
Chinese proverb

Differentstudentshavedifferent
preferredlearningstyles:
Visual learners
Auditory learners
Kinaesthetic learners

CIE Resources
Resources on the CIE website include
the current syllabus
past question papers, mark schemes and
Examiner reports
schemes of work
lists of endorsed and recommended
resources for Biology
email discussion list for teachers of Biology
dedicated students website
core documents

..\CIEwebsite.pptx

Resources from Teacher Support Site

ResourcesforIGCSEBiology

..\IGCSE_BIOLOGY_0610_Opportunities_for_P
actical_Activities (4).pdf
..\miami 2012\resources for Miami\Miami Bio
logy resources\heart model

55

56

57

Up-to-date resource lists are available

on CIE Online
www.cie.org.uk

Session5
SkillsC3andC4
Good practice in C3 and C4
Developing and assessing C3

PracticalskillC3
Handling experimental observations and data e.g.
drawing graphs
processing results
recognising anomalous results and dealing with
them
drawing conclusions
recognising sources of experimental error

CriteriaforC3

SkillC3Graphs
axes drawn with a ruler
independent variable on the x-axis, dependent
variable on the y-axis
axes fully labelled with units
suitable scale - use more than half the paper
provided
suitable scale - in steps that are easy to
subdivide (e.g. 2s or 5s, not 3s)

SkillC3Graphs
If a line graph:
points plotted as x or a circle with a dot inside
it
lines drawn with a pencil
line either ruled from point to point
or a best fit line

Pleasefind:
Pages 16 19 in the Coursework Training
Handbook (Part 1): Guidance booklet

Pleasefind:
0654/51 Question 2(b)(i)
0654/61 Question 2(b)(i)
Assess the quality of the graphs in the scripts

SkillC3conclusions
C3 also involves drawing conclusions from a
set of results
The conclusion should relate clearly to the aim
of the experiment, or the hypothesis that was
being investigated
The conclusion should be based only on the
results obtained
See Coursework guidance booklet page 20

SkillC3anomalousresults
An anomalous result is one that does not fit
the pattern shown by other results.
If time allows, the relevant part of the
experiment should be repeated to check this
result.
Otherwise, the anomalous result should be
excluded from further processing.

SkillC3sourcesoferror
Spotting sources of experimental error is a
high level skill.
Experimental errors should not be confused
with human mistakes.
See coursework guidance book page 20
See Handout 17

Pleasefind:
Coursework Training Handbook (Part 1):
Guidance booklet pages 6676 (Biology) or
7782 (Chemistry)
Identify the parts of the students work that are
part of C3. Comment on this work.
What guidance could be given to the students
to help them improve?

PracticalSkillC4
Planning and evaluating investigations

CriteriaforC4

SkillC4planning
The type of experiment that involves all of the
C4 skills is one in which students investigate
the effect of one variable on another.
The variable they change is the independent
variable. The variable they measure is the
dependent variable.

SkillC4planning
Students should be able to identify other
variables that might affect their results, and
determine how they can try to keep these
constant

Pleasefind:
Handout 18 Planning help sheet

SkillC4evaluatingandmodifying
Students should appreciate that it is a good
thing to make modifications to your original
plan, if you can see ways of improving the
reliability of your results.

Session6
PracticalSession2
Skills C3 and C4

Pleasefind:
Handout 20: Experiment 7 (Chemistry)
or
Handout 21: Experiment Experiment 8 (Physics)
or
Handout 22: Experiment Experiment 9 (Biology)

Session7
Usingpracticalworkinteachingand
learning

Differentiation
Students working at different levels should
each be given appropriate tasks that allow
them to succeed, but that stretch them and
help them to improve
You may like to use different versions of
worksheets, or to provide extra help sheets
for those that need them

Useofdifferentiation
Please find:
Handouts 19A, 19B

Controllingvariables
Please find:
Handout 23 (four pages)

Constructingaschemeofwork
A scheme of work is a long-term plan setting
out how you will cover the entire syllabus in
the time available.
It should consider the development of skills
as well as knowledge.

Planningalessoninvolvingpractical
work
What are the advantages of planning a
lesson carefully?
What should a lesson plan include?

Planningalessoninvolvingpractical
work see handout 24 (lesson plan
template) and handout 25
In your group, complete a lesson plan, using
the template, that focuses on the development
of a particular practical skill or skills
The lesson should also help students to
develop knowledge or understanding of
syllabus content

Session8
Plenary

Whatnext?
For more information about future courses
please go to the training events calendar at
www.cie.org.uk