EDCU13017 - Chemical and Physical Sciences

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In Chemical and Physical Sciences, students apply theoretical concepts and current research related to teaching and learning in Science to engage in authentic evaluation and pedagogical design practices. Chemical and Physical Sciences examines both theoretical perspectives and the content and pedagogy required to teach Science in Primary and Early Childhood classrooms. Students develop understanding of the content and structure of these two strands in the Australian Curriculum and build on the knowledge and skills they developed in the Biological and Earth and Space Science unit to further examine views around best practice in Science pedagogy linked to current research. Chemical and Physical Sciences includes an emphasis on assessment practices in Science which can be applied to other strands of this learning area. Planning to teach and assess students’ understanding of Science is addressed with an emphasis on how best to engage students in this learning area and scaffold understanding to enhance the ability to provide scientific explanations for phenomena.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Bundaberg
Mackay
Online
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical Assessment 50%
2. Practical and Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 22.38% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE evaluations
Feedback
Revise assessments to aid with clarity and to align to the updated curriculum.
Recommendation
Assessments continue to be revised to ensure clarity of expectations.
Action Taken
Assessment two was revised, however will need to be further revised in response to SUTE data and feedback.
Source: Workshops and email
Feedback
Update Moodle content with more practical and usable examples to help with future teaching, particularly in the Early Childhood area.
Recommendation
The Moodle content will continue to be updated and new readings provided.
Action Taken
There has been a considerable amount of work done on the Moodle site, including the addition of significant amounts of content on teaching science in the Early years.
Source: SUTE evaluations, email and workshop feedback.
Feedback
Assessment requirements
Recommendation
Revise assessment requirements to improve clarity
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE evaluations, email and workshop feedback.
Feedback
Moodle materials
Recommendation
Revise Moodle materials
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Workshop and email feedback
Feedback
Zoom workshops
Recommendation
Develop more hands-on materials to support student engagement.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate examples of teaching and assessment practice in Science to identify how connections are made to students’ prior knowledge or experience to promote learning
  2. Access and apply professional literature on contemporary Science education to critically evaluate or justify planning and assessment practices
  3. Plan lesson sequences that use appropriate research-based teaching strategies and ICTs to structure content and address students’ possible misconceptions in Science
  4. Develop diagnostic , formative and summative assessment tools that identify students’ understanding of scientific phenomena
  5. Select assessment strategies that engage students in active learning, promote higher order thinking and scaffold students’ understanding of core concepts in the areas of Chemical and Physical sciences.

Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) focus areas of:

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students

1.2 Understand how students learn

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

2.2 Content selection and organisation

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs

3.3 Use teaching strategies

3.4 Select and use resources

3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs

4.1 Support student participation

5.1 Assess student learning

5.4 Interpret student data

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Practical Assessment • • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • •
1 - Practical Assessment • • • • •