Incorrect information on TKI

[andydyson at actrix.co.nz]

Hi Kerry,

Now back in Kerikeri after a fabulous walk in the Abel Tasman and a road
trip round the South that included a helicopter up the Franz Joseph
glacier, the Haast pass, big chess in Christchurch cathedral square (I
lost!), a crayfish in Kaikura (yum) and the top end with Picton and
Blenheim.

As you point out the new level one standards seem to be still in a state
of flux to some extent, when it would have been nice by now to have it all
finalised so that the decisions can be made about the courses to be
offered next year and preparations made well in advance for assessment to
new standards.

Francis Bryden asked if the new internal standards could be assessed by in
class tests. My reading of them is that they require an "investigation"
which involves "collection of data". I can't see how this could be done by
a test. I really do wonder how schools intend to teach/assess these new
internals. Could one really follow the "Are biomags dangerous?" example
and award 4 credits and feel happy that one's students had a good grasp of
the implication of electricity and magnetism in everyday life?

And then there's the concept of doing this at a distance a la
Correspondence school.

I'm sure that many teachers will spend many (happy?) hours devising ways
to interpret the new standards and ways to assess the ability of their
students against them. They will then have their efforts moderated and
hopefully will stay upbeat when the results come back.

We will, of course, in the end, do what we can to put together
educationally sound Science courses that advantage/don't disadvantage our
students though the change process could be done better. Having said that
I have been through loads of educational changes and none of them have
been well thought out and well organised so why should this be different?

On a different note the freeware Tracker video analysis software looks
really good but do you have the code letters for your Casio Exilim camera
that does 1000 frames per second video? eg is it the EX-FC100 or another?

All the best,

Andy

Kerikeri.










> Kia ora tatou
>
> It was great to meet with so many great physics teachers at SciCon.
> There was quite a bit of discussion about the new NCEA level 1 standards
> and I have just found a couple of glitches in the information on TKI.  I
> have alerted the people at the Ministry, but had no response yet.  I
> thought that you good people should know about them, to save you wasting
> the time. One or two of you might even have the correct information.
>
> The issues are:
>
> 1.       The Conditions of Assessment have disappeared!  The only CoA on
> TKI is for business studies level 1.  At SciCon teachers were reminded to
> look carefully at the CoA in designing their programmes and assessments.
> You won't find them on TKI right now.
>
> 2.       The physics rationale, (22 dec 09)  says "AS P1.1           Carry
> out a practical physics investigation, with direction, that leads to a
> linear relationship
> Removal of "linear relationship" from the title to be consistent with the
> other sciences". The standard in the 30May10 versions says Carry out a
> practical investigation, with direction, that leads to a linear
> mathematical relationship.  Can we assume that the latest information is
> right?
>
> 3.       Draft level 2 standards on TKI (in all the sciences) are still
> the Sept 09  versions.   These have been changed quite a bit - the Earth
> and Space Science ones look completely different (and we are wondering
> whether to offer them as options for physics students).
>
> warm regards
> Kerry
>
>
> Kerry Parker
> Curriculum Leader: Science
> Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu
> The Correspondence School
> Thorndon, Wellington, NZ
>
> 04 473 6841 x 8708
> 0800 659988 x8708
>
> skype: kparker.tcs
>
> Mailing address:
> Private Bag 39992
> Wellington Mail Centre
> Lower Hutt 5045
> New Zealand
>
>
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