8/17/2019 Preparing Students for the Visit Issue Using the Nowgen Film(1) (4)

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Salters-Nufeld Advanced Biology

Preparing students or the Visit/Issue report using the

Nowgen video

Students need to be guided on the requirements of the visit/issue report if they are to

meet the Edexcel assessment criteria, and avoid falling into the trap of just writing an

essay on everything they know about a particular topic. his will not meet the Edexcel

criteria which are research skills based.

 he video at www.nowgen.org.uk/nsgp!snab!"lm, produced by #owgen as part of the#owgen Schools $enomics %rogramme, can be used to help guide students in writing theirvisit issue report.

 he video features &r 'ohn &unkerton who is Edexcel (hief Examiner, &r )isa *elton who

is #ews Editor at #ature +iotechnology journal, and students who recently completed their

visit issue reports. he steps in the process of researching and writing a visit issue report

are illustrated with comparisons between what )isa does as a science writer and what

students need to do for their coursework.

Using the video in class he video is divided into six sections. hese cover key features of a visit issue highlighting

various requirements needed to meet the assessment criteria. he whole video could be

shown at once but an alternative would be to view the dierent sections and link these to

the assessment criteria at each stage. Examiners have noted that the best reports come

from centres who have clearly shared the criteria and exemplars with their students.

Exemplar material is available to download from the secure section of the Edexcel website.

 here is a brief outline of each section of the video below, with suggestions on how this

might be presented in class.

!hat is an issue/visit report"

•  'ohn gives guidance on the need to identify and describe a biological problem,

and write about what scientists are doing about the problem.

•  he need to include data is highlighted.

Students could be shown this introductory section and then asked to come up with a list of 

what biologists actually do, see below for a sample list. his provides a reference

framework for the whole of the visit issue research task eectively introducing the sort of

things students will include in their reports.

#ow $iologists wor%+iologists-

• identify a biological problem,

• try to come up with an appropriate solution,

• consider the implications of their solution,

• examine the bene"ts and risks of this solution,

• look at some alternatives,

• critically look at and then use any source material,

• attempt to communicate their ideas eectively.

#ueld 0oundation and 1niversity of 2ork Science Education $roup 3455 6 downloaded fromwww.advancedbiology.org  6 page 5

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Students could then be asked to look through the assessment criteria and see if they can

identify these steps within the criteria7 the similarities should be obvious.

#ueld 0oundation and 1niversity of 2ork Science Education $roup 3455 6 downloaded fromwww.advancedbiology.org  6 page 3

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& #ow do you decide what to write a$out"

• )isa describes how she goes about choosing a topic to research.

•  'ohn gives guidance on how to identify a problem and prepare for a visit.

• 8 group of students brie9y outline the problems they considered for their issue

report.

• )isa illustrates the journalistic research process using the problem of correct

warfarin dosing :see the #owgen information sheet on warfarin for more detail;7

then she highlights the need to consider implications.

' Sources o inor(ation

• %ossible sources of information are described and the need for a variety of

sources including journals is highlighted.

•  he need to critically evaluate those sources of information is introduced.

8fter viewing these two sections, students could come up with a plan for how they are

going to identify a problem and/or prepare for their visit. his might include encouraging

students to read newspapers, watch the news on television or regularly scan the

items

which students have spotted, and could be appropriate for an

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implications and alternative solutions for each title. Student marking of good exemplars

helps them identify the dierent components of the report. his will help them understand

what they have to do for their own visit/issue report.

or (ore details on how to prepare students or the visit/issue visit the

Edexcel website at

http-//www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce4A/biology/%ages/default.aspx 

#ueld 0oundation and 1niversity of 2ork Science Education $roup 3455 6 downloaded fromwww.advancedbiology.org  6 page B

http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce08/biology/Pages/default.aspxhttp://www.advancedbiology.org/http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce08/biology/Pages/default.aspxhttp://www.advancedbiology.org/