Week 10: Develop a question, sample answer and a marking guideline for an exam style question that is related to your slowmation.

Module Focus: 8.2 A local ecosystem

My slowmation was based on the dot point 8.2.2.2.8 - "Identify and describe in detail adaptations of a plant and an animal from the local ecosystem" (a nice coincidence that it matches the module focus for the week)

Exam Question: Describe how the bilby has adapted to survive in Australian desert environment (4 marks) Aimed at bands 2-6.

Sample Answer: The bilby has developed a number of adaptations that help it to survive in Australian desert environments. Bilbies have developed a number of nocturnal habits that help them survive. They forrage at night and hide in the day to avoid the heat of the sun and avoid the possibility of dehydrating in the hot sun.  They also dig burrows to hide in. These burrows are spiralled to make it difficult for predators to enter.  Being 1-2 meters underground allows bilbys to sleep in envonments that are much moister and 10 degrees cooler than the surface. The bilby has sharp clays and narrow pointed snout to aid this digging and forraging. Bilbys have large ears to help it to eliminate excess heat quickly and also to detect larve, spiders and other bugs that they forrage on. Bilby's have developed this diet to contain all the moisture he require, eliminating their need to drink and find water sources.


Marking Guidelines:
3-4 marks - A extensive and detailed understanding of how some of the physical and behavioural characteristics of the bilby increase its ability to survive in the australian desert
2 marks - A sound understanding of some of the physical and behavioural characteristics of the bilby and how this increases its ability to survive in desert environments.
1 mark - A basic knowledge of how some general features of the bilby relate to its ability to survive in a desert environment.
0 marks - No understanding of how the characteristics of the bilby relate to its ability to survive in Australian desert environments. 

The BOS has lots of great examples and resources for modelling exam questions, sample answers and marking guidelines (The 2011 biology examples are accessible through the links, complete list of 2011 exams here). However, one of the failings of the BOS site is the lack of material and resources for teachers pertaining to assessment of the preliminary modules of the HSC syllabus. This is a bit of an issue in this particular case where I am developing a question based on an element of the preliminary syllabus. A good reference for students with regards to exams (and most other information and content regarding Preliminary and HSC syllabuses) is the website bored of studies.

Week 9: Assess the value of mapping skills in terms of summative assessment

Module focus: 9.8 The Human Story

As a teacher it's really important have the ability to map the skills taught throughout the year. By mapping the skills used in each activity teachers can ensure that everything is covered and know when they are covered so they can be assessed properly. This can be difficult to do, so the BOS has provided teachers with a mapping grid document that help teachers through the mapping process. This document is a good start but is limited in it's level of detail. I think it is a good overview and is best used in conjunction with skills mapping on each module programme.

With regard to the focus module, The human story module has lots of great opportunities to incorporate the skills necessary  However it is not so broad as to give teachers the freedom to incorporate every skill. As such teachers need to be prepared and map where they can teach, practice or consolidate each skill (NB: I met a teacher on prac that is very skills focused and actually does this stuff explicitly - it was very good) because this module will be their last chance to do so (because schools usually do electives last).


One aspecst of mapping I found especially important is the ability of teachers to map the skills assessed within assessments. This is really important, as it shapes how assessment questions are worded, developed, and what they specifically ask, as well as the construction of the assessment task as a whole. This is a much more involved, complex, and difficult idea of assessments compared to the naive view of just rummaging up a collection of questions to ask students (as I have seen on prac). Examples of mapping grids that accompany assessments are found with all HSC exams within the marking guidelines (Bio eg here, p23). it is good for beginning teachers to use these as a model, but also use critical thinking when applying skills and outcomes to questions because there is room for individual differences arising from different interpretations and perspectives. 

Week 8: Disciuss how you could use STANSW Young Scientist Awards or a similar award system (eg; CREST or BHP Awards) to assist teachers and students with open ended investigations and apply holistic marking criteria

Module Focus: 9.7 Genetics: The code broken?

It is my experience that doing open ended investigations with Preliminary and HSC students can be quite difficult. This is quite the opposite from what I saw with yr 6 students during the MyScience program. I think there are 3 key elements that separate the behaviours and attitudes of primary and secondary students - engagment, stress, and rewards. The primary students had a topic that was deliberately chosen to engage them, there was little to no stress placed on the outcome of the investigation, and there was a reward system in place that rewarded achievement with things that they found valuable. Secondary schooling open-ended investigations usually consist of whatever topic is in the syllabus and then refined to some syllabus dot points, set around all the hurly burly of HSC work and the stress surrounding high marks, and rewarded with nothing more than a mark. So there is little wonder that secondary student's don't like them.

Awards systems such as the STANSW Young Scientist awards give students (and teachers) a framework that engages students with giving them choice and scope to pursue their interests, reduces stress by having no bearing on their HSC (but the teacher can change that by incorporating it as an assessment), and having cash prizes, and all kids like money.

Relating this to the genetics module of HSC Biology, there is plenty of room to see how far students can go. There are so many dot points that begin with "process (and analyse) information from secondary sources ........" to get students started. The easy way out would be for a teacher to pick a point and ask students to do an assessment on it instead of teaching it. However I would use the topic to model investigations (so students know what to do) and then towards the end of the module let students pick their own dot point to base some further investigation of their own ideas from. This creates the engagment, and stress can be reduced by limiting the importance of it as an assessment.

These awards systems also are a great introduction into holistic marking for students and teachers. This is a good introduction for students to come to terms with the idea of getting marks for understanding and not writing chunks of information. Teachers also get experience with this marking scheme and how if promotes understading rather than memory skills.

The analytical v holistic marking debate is very interesting. There's debate about it in all types on mediums and forums. I found it quite interesting. Check out here, here, and here to get started.

Week 7: Assess one useful website that you would use for a practical activity for your syllabus point

Module Focus: 9.6 Biotechnology
The Year 12 option module of Biotechnology has lots of great opportunities for practical work. One area at the beginning of the module is syllabus point 9.6.3.3.1, which is; 

Gather and process information from secondary sources to:

–   identify and describe a named industrial fermentation process

–   identify the micro-organism used in the fermentation and the products of the fermentation

–   outline the use of the product of the fermentation process

    –   use available evidence to assess the impact of the use of the fermentation product on society at the time of its introduction.

As with most things today, the first step for students (and teachers) is a google search. Students routinely just look at the first sites that pop up from their search and use that content. With that rationale in mind, I have chosen to assess the first non-sponsored and non-wikipedia (because wikipedia came up first) website google returns when I search the phrase "what is the fermentation process". This site was "What is fermentation" found at: http://chemistry.about.com/od/lecturenoteslab1/f/What-Is-Fermentation.htm

The first question to be asked is "Is the content credible?" After reading I think it is. It is all correct and the source site being labelled as a part of the New York Times gives it added weight. The next issue is "Is the information at the appropriate level for the students?" Again, the site passes my judgement on this. There is a few sections where the content is quite detailed, but it is never far beyond the comprehension of students. Finally, "Is the content appropriate for the syllabus point?" I believe it is, but just barely. The site only contains enough information to be considered a 'starting point' for research deeper into the content, but what saves it is the use of links to other sites to elaborate on the important relevant content. 

In conclusion, This sight has relevant, appropriate, and credible information for this syllabus dot point. I did not make mention of the issue of surrounding the quality of this resource as a learning tool, or its ability to foster learning, because that is the job of the teacher and any resource can develop deep learning in students if the teacher uses it the right way (well that's my view anyway). 

Week 6: Assess one useful web site that you would use for a practical activity for your syllabus point

Module Focus: 9.5 Communication

A great place to get online resources for HSC science topics is the UniServe Science resource sight developed by the University of Sydney. The Stage 6 Biology site is split into resources for each module as well as other information on the whole Syllabus. The page dedicated to the communication module has over 50 online resources to use. 

From this collection I found the Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections site to be very interesting and educational. It is a well mapped site out site with lots of separate, well spaced and formatted pages with clear, concise information and clear, colourful, and interactive diagrams. All this makes the information easy for students to process and engage with, and the content being well formatted rather than cluttered or all crammed together helps too. The negatives of this site is that it does not cover an explicit syllabus point. It can also get a bit awkward navigating through all the pages if students are unsure of exactly what they are looking for. 

All in all, I think it's a really good site and would incorporate it when with higher ability classes that can handle 'deeper', more expansive work and use their critical thinking to link the different ideas already covered in the communication topic. I don't think I would use it for average ability classes where the focus is just to get the syllabus content covered.

Week 5: Describe one assessment tool you would use in the Biology classroom - examples of good practice

Module Focus: 9.4 The search for better health

There are many opportunities to use assessment tools in module 9.4. The first assessment tool I would be a diagnostic assessment, that I would conduct at the beginning of the module. This could be be in a number of forms; written quiz, multiple choice, matching pairs, gameshow style quiz, 3 mins to write everything they know about a topic. The form I gave would be dependant upon the ability and engagement level of the class. I would ask students questions regarding the major body systems, definition of disease, how the body repairs damage, and some examples of diseases and repair mechanisms.

This task would serve a dual purpose. I as the teacher would be able to identify what previous knowledge students can recall and to what level of detail. For the students, it shows them what current knowledge they have will be resurfacing throughout the topic that they should be aware of. From a learning perspective it's really important to 'dredge up' this prior knowledge and it's schema in students minds. It's much easier for students to learn the new material if they can build new knowledge structures off of their previous knowledge base (schema).

There is lots of good information out there about diagnostic assessment. Leighton & Gierl's book is quite interesting, as is this Huff & Goodman article. There is also lots of easily accessible information on youtube, such as this overview of assessment by Hope in Schools.

Week 4: Describe one learning cycle activity you would use in a Biology lesson. Give reasons why you would choose this for your particular syllabus point

Module Focus: 9.3 Blueprint of life

Coming soon ... I'm working on it