Prerequisites

Part IB Physics A or Physics B

Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Physics Education represents one unit of Further Work. It is aimed at those students considering a career in Physics Education, and offers experience of developing and presenting teaching material at the secondary-school level. This course aims to provide practical experience for the development of a wide range of transferable skills including: planning and organisation; time-management; communication and negotiation. 

Synopsis

For the 2023/24 academic year the course will involve the planning, preparing of, and successful completion of an educational project under the supervision of a teacher. Where possible, these projects will be delivered in person at local schools during Lent Term.

The student and their Supervising Teacher will collaborate to identify the basis of the project, and it must support physics education in the teacher's school and be approved by the Supervising Teacher.

All those interested in undertaking this course must attend a preliminary meeting 2:00-3:00pm on Tuesday 17th October 2023 in the Bragg Committe room (Room 213). Students can sign up for the meeting using this Google Doc.    

Access to places on this course is limited and candidates will be selected by a brief interview and reference from their Director of Studies.

Placements will be identified for each student by November 2023. It will be the responsibility of the student to contact their Supervising Teacher to arrange an appropriate date and time to discuss their projects.

Students must write a written report about their work.  The written report should be concise (2000 words maximum, excluding any appendices) on some area of Physics Education, approved in advance by the Head of Class. The student should discuss the general structure of the report with their Supervising Teacher, and the Head of Class, before writing is started, but the Head of Class should not read a full version of the text until it is submitted. 

During the preparation for the writing of the report, students will be asked to give a short talk presenting their preliminary work to the Head of Class and a group of students writing similar reports. It is expected that the Head of Class will organise the group session in the last two or three weeks of the Lent term. Students will receive feedback on the content and presentation of their reports from those present. This form of presentation is aimed at developing communication and presentational skills. You will be awarded 5% of the available marks for the written report upon giving the presentation (irrespective of its quality).

Assessment will be based on:

• The candidate’s class presentation (5 %);
• A written assessment of performance from the Supervisory Teacher (5%)
• The candidate’s project materials, written report and viva-voce examination with the Head of Class and an Assessor (90 %).

The written assessment of performance by the Supervisory Teacher is considered confidential to the Head of Class, and will therefore be sent directly to the Head of Class by the Supervising Teacher: it will not be seen by the student.

The deadline for submission of the written report is 4:00pm on the first Monday of Easter Full term (29th April 2024).

In order to preserve anonymity when your report is looked at by the Part II examiners, your name must not appear on the report itself.  Please include the title of the report, the name of the Head of Class, and the name of your Supervising Teacher.

As soon as possible after submission, the report will be assessed by two people, normally the Head of Class and another staff member, who will then conduct the viva voce examination (typically 30 minutes long) to be given by the student. The student will be asked to give a short verbal summary (typically 10 minutes), normally uninterrupted, of the report during the examination. The assessor, who will be appointed by the Teaching Committee, will generally not be a specialist in the field. Students should expect to be contacted by the Head of Class shortly after the submission of their report, to arrange the examination. These assessors will also be given a copy of the Supervising Teacher’s written assessment.

These assessors will write a report to the Part II Examiners and will recommend a mark. These marks are not necessarily final and may be amended by the examiners, who will also look at the reports and the Supervising Teachers’ written assessments. After the viva, you will receive a copy of the mark sheet, which will provide feedback on your performance. The marks allocated by the assessors are subject to moderation and scaling by the examiners, so the mark you receive may not match the final mark for this piece of work in the College Markbook.

The following guidelines for allocation of marks to Part II Physics Education reports will be given to assessors.

• Quality of work (65%): How carefully and accurately was the work planned and executed? Was an appropriate amount of relevant material included? How closely did the prepared materials align with the relevant aspects of the school curriculum?  Were the supporting materials high quality and original?
• Communications skills 1 - Report (10%): Was the report well written and clearly organised, with clear and well balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures, tables and a literature review?
• Communications skills 2 - Viva (15%): Was the student able to summarise the work and respond coherently to questions?

After the formal presentation, the assessors will send their report and recommended mark to the Head of Class.

If there are any queries concerning these arrangements, contact the Helen Marshall in the Undergraduate Office, hm328@cam.ac.uk.