Home Schooling Additional Science GCSE - The Course

This course is currently in development. We anticipate having this course ready during December 2006. Students planning to take this course will need to either have completed Science GCSE or be studying Science GCSE alongside this course

Key Topics Covered

The Additional Science GCSE course covers the entire syllabus in 3 modules, dealing with the following topics:

Biology 2

• What are animals and plants built from?
• How do dissolved substances get into and out of cells?
• How do plants obtain the food they need to live and grow?
• What happens to energy and biomass at each stage in a food chain?
• What happens to the waste material produced by plants and animals?
• What are enzymes and what are some of their functions?
• How do our bodies keep internal conditions constant?
• Which human characteristics show a simple pattern of inheritance?

  Chemistry 2

• How do sub-atomic particles help us to understand the structure of
  substances?
• How do structures influence the properties and uses of substances?
• How much can we make and how much do we need to use?
• How can we control the rates of chemical reactions?
• Do chemical reactions always release energy?
• How can we use ions in solutions?

• Physics 2

• How can we describe the way things move?
• How do we make things speed up or slow down?
• What happens to the movement energy when things speed up or slow down?
• What is momentum?
• What is static electricity, how can it be used and what is the connection between static electricity and electric currents?
• What does the current through an electrical circuit depend on?
• What is mains electricity and how can it be used safely?
• Why do we need to know the power of electrical appliances?
• What happens to radioactive substances when they decay?
• What are nuclear fission and nuclear fusion?

Syllabus

Our Additional Science GCSE course prepares students for AQA GCSE Additional Science syllabus 4463, for exams in 2008 and later years. We have chosen this syllabus as the most suited to home schooling.

Assessment is by three written paper (75%) and coursework (25%).

Special Requirements

It is assumed that any one studying Additional Science GCSE has already studied GCSE Science or is studying GCSE Science alongside this course .

Practical Skills/Coursework

The assessment has two parts:

1. The practical skills assessment (PSA) assesses the student’s ability to work in an organised and safe manner whilst working practically. It can be carried out at any time during the course.
2. The investigative skills assignment (ISA) assesses the student’s ability to undertake a task and collect, process and evaluate data. The ISA can be carried out at any time during the course.– Students carry out the PSA set by AQA, they then take a written test under controlled conditions. The test asks questions concerning the data collected during the practical task as well as that provided as part of the test.

Please also take the time to read 'Coursework, a guide for parents'