Physics 2.1

[andydyson at actrix.co.nz]

Hi all,

Nice to see the 2009 moderator's report has arrived but I have a question
relating to the 2008 report which states, for the measurement part of the
standard P2.1 five measurements task:

"There are still a significant number of teachers who have still not
updated their method of grading the measurement aspect of the standard for
the latest version of the standard. It is not valid to grade each
measurement activity individually. The required evidence must be sought
from the whole  range of tasks. This will have a significant effect on the
abilities of students to fulfil the
requirements of the standard."

Imagine I have a student who only gets 3 measurements of the 5 in range
and with the correct unit. One of these measurements has the wrong number
of significant figures to be considered at merit level. But another, out
of range (ie wrong), measurement does have the right number of sf. Can
this student still progress towards M? For example the correct answer to a
recent task was 907 mV. 3sf. A student gave 907 V. 3sf but a tad out of
range. Can this student use the 3sf here in a wrong answer to progress
towards Merit?

On another matter, I noticed that the moderator's newsletter for Science
recently had a comment about annotated exemplars but the resources for
Science area in NZQA didn't have any annotated exemplars. I queried this
with NZQA by 'phone and email and they solved my problem about annotated
exemplars BY REMOVING THE COMMENT IN THE MODERATOR'S NEWSLETTER ABOUT
ANNOTATED EXEMPLARS! Rather than producing the said annotated exemplars. I
sent them another email USING CAPITAL LETTERS. They have not replied. Is
the Science moderator known to you? If so, please send them this.

Andy Dyson, Kerikeri