Professional Focus Paper
Course: Physics
1.
Level: National 5
Who is this paper for and what is its purpose?
This paper is for teachers and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as learners work towards
Physics National 5.
Curriculum for Excellence is a unique opportunity to raise achievement and to ensure that all learners are better
prepared than they have been in the past for learning, life and work. This is because the new curriculum gives real
scope to build learning from 3–18 in a joined-up, seamless way. As a result, progression in learning can be much
stronger with a clear focus on attributes and capabilities, skills (including higher-order thinking skills), and
knowledge and understanding. These are delivered through the experiences and outcomes of the 3–15 Broad
General Education (BGE) and, at the senior phase, through programmes that build directly on the BGE leading to
qualifications. Because of a strengthened focus on the nature and quality of learning experiences, self-motivation is
likely to be increased and learners consequently more engaged and enthused. To ensure continuity and
progression, qualifications at the senior phase have been designed to embrace this unambiguous focus on highquality learning.
Curriculum for Excellence has the flexibility to meet the needs of all learners in their local circumstances, enabling
each to achieve their very best. For example, some centres may take the opportunity to offer qualifications over two
years which might involve learners bypassing qualifications at a given level, whereas others may enable learners to
work towards qualifications within one year. In both cases, the advice in this paper is relevant to the learning and
teaching approaches that learners will encounter. This paper, then, is intended to stimulate professional reflection
and dialogue about learning. It highlights important features of learning which are enhanced or different from
previous arrangements at this SCQF level.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the BGE and, where applicable, National 4,
to meet the needs of learners?
2.
What’s new and what are the implications for learning and teaching?
Physics National 5 consists of three Units and a Course Assessment, providing learners with the opportunity to
develop and apply skills, alongside increasing their depth of knowledge and understanding.
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Electricity and Energy
Waves and Radiation
Dynamics and Space
Course Assessment: assignment and a question paper
To achieve Physics National 5, learners must pass all of the required Units and the Course Assessment, which
takes the form of an assignment and a question paper and covers the added value of the course.
PHYSICS
What are the key aspects of Physics National 5?
Physics progression framework
Staff will find it useful alongside this paper to refer to the Physics Progression Framework as they plan learning
which builds on the BGE, through National 4 if applicable, and into National 5.
Added Value
Added value at National 5 takes the form of an assignment and a question paper and offers significant scope for
personalisation and choice. It pulls together the application of skills of scientific inquiry and related physics
knowledge and understanding, and the possible effects on the environment or society. It will allow scope for further
development and application of the literacy and numeracy skills developed at earlier stages.
Hierarchy of Units
From National 3 onwards, the hierarchical nature of the Units allows for learning and teaching in classes and
groups as appropriate to circumstances, and enables learners to be given recognition for their best achievement.
The degree of choice within the Units further allows for new areas of study for learners who are able to progress
from one level to another, whilst ensuring that learners are not required to repeat content from one level to the next.
Learners may gain Unit awards at more than one level, based on their level of skills and knowledge and
understanding of the key areas of physics. This approach has the potential to encourage learners to aim as high as
they can.
Fewer, broader outcomes
Staff will now be able to build learning programmes that suit local circumstances because Units are less
prescriptive and more flexible with fewer broader outcomes designed to encourage a more holistic and rounded
approach to learning. These outcomes can be developed in contexts chosen locally in consideration of the needs
and interests of learners, and will be best when designed to build on learning encountered at previous stages.
What are the key features of learning in Physics National 5?
Learning will be best when it applies a variety of creative and innovative approaches to the development of interest
and enthusiasm for physics, building on earlier experiences. Physics provides opportunities for active and
collaborative learning in creative, relevant, inspiring and engaging contexts. Well-designed experiences in physics
will develop learners’ curiosity and problem solving and analytical thinking skills; skills for collaborative learning and
independent thinking; and interest and enthusiasm for learning. For example, the key area of Ohm’s Law within the
Electricity and Energy Unit offers opportunities for learners to use screen-casting software and Glow, developing
collaborative learning and independent thinking skills and applying these to explore analogies and models in
physics. Such tools can be used to aid creativity, reflection and self- and peer-evaluation skills, engaging and
motivating learners. This is exemplified through Education Scotland’s National 5 Physics Skills advice and
guidance.
How will you promote enthusiasm for physics through relevant, inspiring and engaging contexts?
A blend of classroom approaches, pitched at a more challenging level than at earlier stages, will involve hands-on
practical tasks, such as experiments and open-ended investigations, together with whole-class plenary discussions
and direct interactive teaching. For example, the key areas of velocity and displacement, velocity–time graphs,
acceleration and projectile motion within the Dynamics and Space Unit offer rich opportunities for open-ended
investigations using a range of technologies and software analysis tools. Learners can reflect on the findings of
PHYSICS
their investigations through teacher questioning and peer discussion to evaluate, draw conclusions and formulate
hypotheses for further investigation. This is exemplified through Education Scotland’s National 5 Physics Skills
advice and guidance.
Learning experiences can require independent learning and ensure learners develop the skills required to take
responsibility for their own learning and, as appropriate, draw on the support of their peers, building on skills that
have been developed at earlier stages. For example, the key area of Space Exploration within the Dynamics and
Space Unit provides learners with opportunities to make decisions, manage and take responsibility for their
learning to consider the extent to which funding space exploration is good value for money. They can explore and
evaluate evidence that supports our understanding of the universe and our place within it, the role of physics in
gathering this evidence and consider the impact of this understanding on our everyday lives.
Approaches that allow space for personalisation and choice should be built in at all stages, taking account of
individual learner progress, how she/he learns and the contexts that each finds particularly interesting. The key
area of nuclear radiation within the Waves and Radiation Unit lends itself to the learner focusing on an application
of nuclear radiation to suit her/his prior learning and interests. Within this, the learner could explore society’s
reliance on radioactivity and consider whether there are available non-nuclear equivalents, comparing and
contrasting including risks and benefits. This will lead to consideration of questions such as ‘Will global security
depend on a nuclear future?’ and ‘How does the work of Becquerel and Curie impact on health care in the 21st
century?’. This is exemplified through Education Scotland’s National 5 Nuclear Chemistry advice and guidance.
How will you ensure a balanced overall blend of approaches in the classroom?
Effective partnerships have an important role to play and can expand on those already established at earlier
stages. These could include drawing on relevant expertise among staff in other curriculum areas including, for
example, social studies, technologies or RME, as well as links with employers and businesses developed
independently or through organisations such as STEMNET. These links can also promote an understanding of
potential careers, occupations, and ways of learning and future training pathways.
Learning should develop high-quality scientific inquiry and investigation skills, building on skills developed within
the BGE and, as appropriate, National 4. This should involve scientific inquiry which includes finding associations
and investigating models in real-life and relevant contexts. Learning and teaching should provide opportunities to
generate and use suitable questions for scientific inquiry and practical investigation or research. Learners should
continue to have opportunities to decide on a course of action, for example, what to observe or measure, or how to
carry out observations or measurements. In addition, learners should be given opportunities to decide on an
appropriate approach to determine or discover answers or solutions, building on their learning at previous stages.
Learning experiences may include the use of data loggers, and the collection and analysis of increasingly complex
data, again progressing from the knowledge and skills gained through the BGE and, if applicable, National 4.
Learners should continue to have opportunities to evaluate the inquiry or investigative process and the adequacy or
appropriateness of their approaches. Learning and teaching should offer opportunities for learners to make
adjustments to investigations and experimental design as their work progresses.
How will you ensure that learners have opportunities to encounter a broad and challenging range of data and
sources of evidence?
PHYSICS
Learning and teaching will embed literacy at an appropriate level. This will include, for example, opportunities for
learners to access and use information from a range of sources to inform their learning in physics, selecting,
summarising and inferring. These experiences can involve working independently or collaboratively to evaluate
such sources, for example considering the credibility and value of the sources, reliability of information and
techniques used to influence opinion, including persuasion and bias. They will also enable learners to engage in
informed debate on physics-related and ethical issues. In presenting findings, learners could be given the
opportunity to select the appropriate way to share their thinking with others, and to develop skills which persuade,
evaluate, explore issues and express opinions, all based on scientific evidence.
Well-planned approaches to learning in physics enable learners to develop numeracy skills, including applying
and developing skills in: understanding the practical importance of accuracy and reliability; making choices about
how to record and display data in a clear way from an extended range of tables, charts, diagrams and graphs;
making effective use of technologies; interpreting data contained in a range of formats; evaluating and interpreting
raw data, and data from tables and graphs, from their own work or other sources; and commenting on observed
relationships within the data, and the extent to which that interpretation is realistic.
How will you ensure that learners develop and apply skills in literacy and numeracy at a higher level than at
previous stages?
Links with a range of curriculum areas such as other sciences, mathematics and social studies subjects, are
essential to help learners apply and make connections in their learning. This will help to ensure their skills are
reinforced and transferrable.
How can you ensure that learners can access opportunities to apply their learning in different curriculum areas?
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3.
Qualification information
The SQA website provides you with the following documents:
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Assessment Overview
Course Specification
Unit Specification
Course Assessment Specification
Unit Assessment Support Packages
Support Notes
Full information on arrangements for this qualification is available at the SQA website:
Physics National 5: http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47430.html
4.
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What other materials are available on the Education Scotland website which staff
could use?
Sciences Principles and Practices
Concept Development in the Sciences
The Sciences 3–18 Curriculum Area Impact Report
Physics Skills
Nuclear Chemistry
Support materials have been produced over the last year to support Curriculum for Excellence and further support
materials and events are planned. This downloadable list is updated quarterly with the most up-to-date details
available from the page below.
Published and planned support for Curriculum for Excellence:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/publishedandplannedsupport
T +44 (0)141 282 5000 E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk W www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
© Crown copyright, 2012
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