Over the three years of junior cycle, students will have many opportunities to enjoy and learn science. They will work as a scientist as they formulate scientific questions and hypotheses, initiate research, plan and conduct investigations, process and analyse data and information, evaluate evidence to draw valid conclusions, and report and reflect on the process. Students will collaborate as they prepare scientific communications for a variety of purposes and audiences. They will learn about, and make informed decisions about, their own health and wellbeing, and about science-related issues of social and global importance. Through these activities they will develop their science knowledge, understanding, skills, and values, thereby achieving the learning outcomes across the strands.
The Classroom-Based Assessments, outlined in Table 5 below, link to important aspects of that development and relate to priorities for learning and teaching such as investigating, and communicating in science, while at the same time developing their knowledge and understanding of science, which are vital to working like a scientist. Students need to develop a sense of what is appropriate for scientific investigation and research, plan and conduct investigations and research topics, process and analyse data and information, draw evidence-based conclusions, evaluate the process, and prepare scientific communications. The Classroom-Based Assessments offer students the chance to demonstrate their achievements as creators of scientific research reports by selecting a topic or problem to investigate.
CBA
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Format
|
Student preparation |
Completion of the assessment |
SLAR1 Meeting |
Extended experimental investigation (EEI)
|
Reports which may be presented in a wide range of formats.
|
Students will, over a three-week period; formulate a scientific hypothesis, plan and conduct an experimental investigation to test their hypotheses, generate and analyse primary data, and reflect on the process, with support/guidance by the teacher. |
End of second year. |
One review meeting. |
Science in society investigation (SSI)
|
Reports which may be presented in a wide range of formats. |
Student will, over a three-week period: research a socio-scientific issue, analyse the information/secondary data collected, and evaluate the claims and opinions studied and draw evidence-based conclusions about the issues involved, with support/guidance by the teacher.
|
End of first term or early in the second term in third year. |
One review meeting.
|
1Subject Learning and Assessment Review
The presentation formats for each of the above Classroom-Based Assessments can include the following (this is not an exhaustive list):
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a hand-written/typed report
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mulitmodal presentation
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webpage
|
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Students should receive a copy of the features of quality as early as possible, so that they are aware of what they need to do to generate work of the highest possible standard. It is also acceptable, and in some respects encouraged, that the evidence of learning presented for the Classroom-Based Assessment could be used as part of a student's entry to a local or national science fair.