Introducing Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packs Environmental Science National 3, National 4 and National 5

Unit Assessment  Assessments can be designed to provide evidence across more than one Unit or Outcome – combined assessments  Flexible and open Evidence Requirements in Units  Greater range of techniques and methodologies for assessment – encouraged through Unit assessment support packages  More opportunities to gather naturally occurring evidence – assessment as part of learning and teaching

Unit Structure National 3National 4National 5 Living Environment Living Environment Living Environment Earth’s Resources Earth’s Resources Earth’s Resources Sustainability Sustainability Sustainability

Key points: Environmental Science Units  standards remain the same  feature the best approaches of the current Environmental Science Units  have a hierarchical Unit structure that provide progression from National 3 to National 5  has added value assessment that increases personalisation and choice in the Environmental Science assignment at National 4

Unit Specifications – Living Environment Outcome 1 The Learner will: Apply skills of scientific inquiry and draw on knowledge and understanding of the key areas of this Unit to carry out an experiment/practical investigation by: 1.1 Planning an experiment/practical investigation 1.2 Following procedures safely 1.3 Making and recording observations/measurements correctly 1.4 Presenting results in an appropriate format 1.5 Drawing valid conclusions 1.6 Evaluating experimental procedures

Unit Specifications – Living Environment Outcome 2 The learner will: Draw on knowledge and understanding of the key areas of this Unit and apply scientific skills by: 2.1 Making accurate statements 2.2 Describing an application 2.3 Describing a scientific issue in terms of the effect on the environment/society 2.4 Solving problems

Unit Specifications Evidence Requirements for this Unit:  Assessors should use their professional judgement, subject knowledge and experience, and understanding of their learners, to determine the most appropriate ways to generate evidence and the conditions and contexts in which they are used.  Evidence should be gathered in combination with other Outcomes where possible, either from this Unit or in combination with the Outcomes from the Unit. Evidence may also be gathered for individual Outcomes where appropriate.

Assessment StandardNational 4 Planning an experiment/practical investigation The plan should include:  an aim  a variable to be kept constant  measurements/observations to be made  the resources  the method including safety considerations Presenting results in an appropriate format One format from: Table, graph, chart, key, diagram, flow chart, or other appropriate formats Draw a valid conclusionInclude reference to the aim Evaluating experimental procedures Suggest an improvement Accurate statementsAt least half of the statements should be correct across the key areas of this Unit. Describing a scientific issue in terms of the effect on the environment/society The description should include the science of the issue Solving problemsOne of each:  make generalisation/predictions  selecting information  processing information including calculations as appropriate

Unit Assessment Support Packages - purpose UASPs can be used to: Assess your candidates Adapt for your own assessment programmes Help you develop your own assessments

UASPs – key features  Valid from August 2013  Designed to encourage professional judgement  Provide broad-based tasks – allow assessors to choose appropriate context and forms of evidence  Show range of approaches to generating assessment evidence  Give information on the type of evidence which could be gathered and how this is to be judged against Assessment Standards

Environmental Science UASPs Package 1  Unit by Unit approach - discrete assessment tasks for each Unit, will cover all outcomes and assessment standards. Package 2  Combined across Units N3, N4 and N5 Package 3  Portfolio approach N3, N4 and N5 - an approach to assessment which judges assessment normally covering all Outcomes and assessment standards for all the Units.

National 4 Added Value Unit  Portfolio approach N3 and N4 - an approach to assessment which judges assessment normally covering all Outcomes and assessment standards  Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts  Builds on current Course assessment and Group Award approaches  Defined as breadth, challenge and/or application as outlined in Building the Curriculum 5  Controlled assessment –setting conducting and marking

Moving on  Workshop 1 and 2 will give you the opportunity to look at the Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packages in detail.