Secondary project briefs (ages 11+)


Bronze Awards are typically completed by students aged 11+. They complete a ten-hour project which is a perfect introduction to STEM project work. Over the course of the project, teams of students design their own investigation, record their findings, and reflect on their learnings. This process gives students a taste of what it is like to be a scientist or engineer in the real-world.


Silver Awards are typically completed by students aged 14+ over thirty hours. Project work at Silver level is designed to stretch your students and enrich their STEM studies. Students direct the project, determining the project’s aim and how they will achieve it. They carry out the project, record and analyse their results and reflect on the project and their learnings. All Silver projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform.


Gold Awards are typically completed by students aged 16+ over seventy hours. Students’ projects are self-directed, longer term and immerse them in real research. At this level, we recommend students work with a mentor from their chosen STEM field of study. All Gold projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform. There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.


There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.


Find out how to build practical CREST projects into secondary science lessons using our free teacher guidance pack. Supporting this guidance are easy-to-use, free-to-download mapping workbooks, which match individual Bronze, Silver and Gold CREST Award projects with each area of the secondary science curricula for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can download and save your own copy of the relevant mapping workbook via the following links:


England

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales


To browse the briefs, click the buttons below or scroll down.

Views
3 years ago

Investigative Practical Science in the Curriculum

  • Text
  • Crest
  • Investigative
  • Curriculum
  • Bronze
  • Extended
  • Projects
  • Completed
  • Assessment
  • Criteria
  • Awards
Find out how to build practical CREST projects into secondary science lessons using our free teacher guidance pack. Supporting this guidance are easy-to-use, free-to-download mapping workbooks, which match individual Bronze, Silver and Gold CREST Award projects with each area of the secondary science curricula for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can download and save your own copy of the relevant mapping workbook via the following links England https://www.crestawards.org/s/ENGLAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Northern Ireland https://www.crestawards.org/s/NORTHERN-IRELAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Scotland https://www.crestawards.org/s/SCOTLAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Wales https://www.crestawards.org/s/WALES-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool-v3.xlsx This resource is published under an Attribution - non-commercial - no derivatives 4.0 International creative commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Contents About this

Contents About this guidance pack.................................................................................................... 3 Why should students have the opportunity to do open-ended and extended investigative projects in the curriculum?.........................................4 How to embed open-ended and extended investigative projects in the curriculum......................................................................... 6 Investigative practical science in the curriculum: How the pilot schools made it happen........................................................................... 8 What is involved when embedding open-ended investigative practical work into the curriculum?.................................................... 10 A-level Biology case study................................................................................................................. 12 A-level Physics case study.................................................................................................................. 14 A-level Chemistry case study............................................................................................................ 16 A-level Biology case study................................................................................................................. 18 Pearson BTEC Level 3 Applied Science.......................................................................................20 Cambridge Technical Level 3 Applied Science award............................................................. 21 BTEC case study................................................................................................................................... 22 Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).......................................................................................... 24 KS3 science curriculum...................................................................................................................... 25 KS3 case study....................................................................................................................................... 26 Embedding open-ended investigative practical work into the curriculum in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.................................. 28 Frequently asked questions............................................................................................. 30 Brief overview of the main research considered......................................................32 References............................................................................................................................... 34 2

MAKING IT HAPPEN About this guidance pack The curriculum should evolve to include more requirements for extended projects in investigative science. In particular, an extended project should become an embedded, compulsory part of post-16 study for all students on pre-university courses. For those studying a majority of science subjects, the project should have a science focus. Gatsby, 2017 A pilot study, funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, was carried out during the academic year 2019-2020 to support ten secondary schools across England to plan and deliver CREST Awards within curriculum time. This is a guidance pack designed to explain how to embed open-ended extended investigative work within the curriculum using the experience from these pilot schools. What is meant by ‘open-ended extended investigative work within the curriculum’? Benchmark 8, in the Good Practical Science Guide (Gatsby, 2017), recommends that “students should have opportunities to do open-ended and extended investigative projects”, yet less than 25% of students have the chance to do so (Cramman et al., 2019). The key definitions for this pilot were: c Open-ended – an investigation for which there is no predetermined outcome (Gatsby, 2017). There are different levels of ‘openness’ in investigative work. In this pilot, as in the work carried out by Dunlop et al. (2019), projects “that are open in at least one of the six dimensions, problem/question, theory/background, procedures/design, analysis of results, communication of results and conclusions, identified by Buck, Bretz and Towns (2008), are considered open-ended.” c Extended – spread across one or more weeks (Gatsby, 2017). c Investigative – tasks in which students design an experiment to test a given question, carry it out and interpret the results, all within a fixed time period (Gatsby, 2017). c Within the curriculum – taking place during science lessons, student non-contact time and work experience, without teachers and technicians having to supervise during lunchtimes, breaktimes, holidays or after school. Over 30,000 students achieve a CREST Award each year, with the majority being completed outside of the curriculum; this adds to the teacher and technician workload. The pilot project was designed to see how feasible it was to complete practical investigative CREST Awards within science curriculum time to reduce this workload and maintain the positive impact for students. Ofqual (2019) suggests that the CREST programme is potentially suitable for “integration within the framework of the reformed assessment arrangements” or CPACs. Dunlop et al. (2019) also recommend that students’ open-ended investigative projects are recognised with CREST Awards. The British Science Association (BSA) coordinates, delivers and oversees a number of different projects and programmes aimed at engaging more people with science. This includes the CREST Awards programme, which has been used by schools for over 30 years to provide teachers with a framework of activities to engage students in running their own projects. Committed to strengthening practical skills in STEM in UK schools and colleges, Gatsby Charitable Foundation has funded the BSA to run this pilot and produce this guidance. The support of UK Research and Innovation has also been key to the delivery of this project. 3

Bronze level

Ten hour projects recommended for ages 11+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Bronze Awards page.


Back to top

Bronze

Silver level

Thirty hour projects recommended for ages 14+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Silver Award page.


Back to top

Silver

Gold level

Seventy hour projects recommended for ages 16+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Gold Awards page


Back to top

Gold

Managed by:

Supported by:

British Science Association

Wellcome Wolfson Building,
165 Queen's Gate
London
SW7 5HD

© 2018 British Science Association