APP Science Assessment Guidelines: Student Speak AF2
Level / AF2 Understanding the applications and implications of science / Student Speak AF2 Understanding the applications and implications of science / Standard File example3 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Explain the purposes of a variety of scientific or technological developments
· Link applications to specific characteristics or properties
· Identify aspects of our lives, or of the work that people do, which are based on scientific ideas / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
· Explain the following for a piece of scientific technology:
· It's use(s)
· Why it is suitable for purpose
· How it affect our lives?
E.g. mobile phones /
Pupil B linked the geographical features of the school site to the requirements for each type of power station. He also identified different interest groups, relating to leisure and general local and environmental concerns, and described some implications of developments, showing awareness of positive and negative consequences.
Next steps Find out about different people who work within the energy industry and which aspects of science are • involved in their roles.
4 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Describe some simple positive and negative consequences of scientific and technological developments
· Recognise applications of specific scientific ideas
· Identify aspects of science used within particular jobs or roles / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
· Describe some positive and negative effects of a piece of scientific technology use and development E.g. Mobile phone such as text and text language, nuclear power
· Link a scientific idea to develop a technological application e.g. discovery of x rays leading to medical imagery
· List how science is used in different jobs (futuremorph) / Pupil R was able to recognise several applications of products of distillation. She could describe some simple positive and negative consequences of the process and began to distinguish between different kinds of impact, differentiating consistently between those which were ‘social’ and ‘economic’.
Next steps Consideration of other issues such as those which are specifically ethical or moral. Activity to differentiate clearly between opinion and scientific evidence
5 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Describe different viewpoints a range of people may have about scientific or technological developments
· Indicate how scientific or technological developments may affect different groups of people in different ways
· Identify ethical or moral issues linked to scientific or technological developments
· Link applications of science or technology to their underpinning scientific ideas / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
· Describe the following for a scientific or technological development:
· different viewpoints
· How it affects different groups of people
· Some ethical and moral issues
· The scientific ideas within the development
E.g. stem cell technology /
Pupil V linked vaccination to some of its underpinning scientific ideas, and also made an ethical statement, at a valid personal level, on the issues of Jenner’s trial.
6 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Describe how different decisions on the uses of scientific and technological developments may be made in different economic, social or cultural contexts
· Explain how societies are affected by particular scientific applications or ideas
· Describe how particular scientific or technological developments have provided evidence to help scientists pose and answer further questions
· Describe how aspects of science are applied in particular jobs or roles / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
· Describe / explain the following for a scientific or technological development
· How different economic, social or cultural factors / situations affect decisions
· How it affects the society
· How it has led to further scientific questions
E.g. space
· Describe how science is used in different jobs / Pupil A selected ideas and information and successfully considered some personal (“How can we help?”) and political (“How can the government help?”) perspectives alongside the science, and applied their scientific understanding to suggest solutions. The distinction between short and long term effects is left unclear, but this is often the case in sources of information on the subject.
Next steps Exploring issues of changes caused by human and non-human activity and the validity of competing ideas about the causes (human or non-human) of current climate change.
7 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Suggest ways in which scientific and technological developments may be influenced
· Explain how scientific discoveries can change worldviews
· Suggest economic, ethical/moral, social or cultural arguments for and against scientific or technological developments
· Explain how creative thinking in science and technology generates ideas for future research and development / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
· Suggest and explain the following for a scientific or technological development
· What influences it's development
· How it discovery changes world views
· Arguments for and against
· How creative thinking generates new ideas
E.g. satellites to navigation / Pupil D listed several types of impact associated with satellite technology and identified new opportunities for answering scientific questions. He also included a brief but significant statement about the impact of satellite technology on general worldview, in making ‘the world seem smaller’. He provided economic, ethical and social arguments for and against satellite use but did not present a final balanced view.
Next steps Further consideration of scientific uncertainty using contemporary and historical examples.
Exploration of how scientific knowledge
develops as further evidence becomes
available, using contemporary and historical
examples.
Discussion of the different specialisms and
skills required in the development of
satellite technologies
8 / Across a range of contexts and practical situations pupils:
· Describe ways in which the values of a society influence the nature of the science developed in that society or period of history
· Evaluate the effects of scientific or technological developments on society as a whole
· Explain the unintended consequences that may arise from scientific and technological developments
· Make balanced judgements about particular scientific or technological developments by evaluating the economic, ethical/moral, social or cultural implications / In KS3 science within a variety of different topics / situations you will be able to:
Complete the following for a scientific or technological development
· Describe how the values of societies influence development
· Evaluate it's effect on society
· Explain the unexpected consequences e.g. Einstein + nuclear bombs
· Evaluate the range of implication and present a personal viewpoint
E.g. Gm crops / Through discussion, Pupil P was able to explain the significance of the telescope as an observational tool that led to the geocentric model being challenged. She was also able to describe how the views of the Roman Catholic Church influenced thinking at the time, and how theories proposed by scientists such as Galileo were deemed to be controversial, even though they were rooted in evidence.
Next steps Consideration of other scientific theories such as Darwin’s theory of evolution that challenged thinking at the time.