VCE Biology 2017–2021

School-based assessment report

This report is based on the School-based Assessment Audit and VCAA statistical data.

All official communications regarding the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Biology Study
Design are provided in the VCAA Bulletin. It is recommended that teachers individually subscribe to
the VCAA Bulletin to receive updated information regarding the study. The VCE and VCAL
Administrative Handbook and Important Administrative Dates are published on the Administration
page of the VCAA website.

GENERAL COMMENTS
Responses to the Unit 3 and Unit 4 School-based Assessment Audits for VCE Biology indicate that
teachers have generally made a successful transition from the previous study design to the
reaccredited VCE Biology Study Design 2017–2021. School-based assessment enhances validity of
student assessment by providing opportunities for non-routine and open-ended biology contexts and
applications to be explored in greater depth and breadth than is possible in an examination.

School-based Assessment Audit

The School-based Assessment Audit enables the VCAA to check that School-assessed Coursework
(SAC) tasks are compliant with the VCE assessment principles and the requirements of the VCE
Biology Study Design.

The first stage of the audit requires schools to complete a study-specific audit questionnaire by
providing information about assessment planning, timelines, resources, the types of SAC tasks set
and the conditions under which students sit the tasks. This stage of the audit is conducted early in the
unit being audited to allow for early intervention (if required). The VCAA therefore understands that
not all information provided in the response to the study-specific audit questionnaire will be final.
Schools are encouraged to answer each question based on the best current information.

Schools are advised to prepare their responses to the study-specific audit questionnaire using the
PDF available on VASS before they begin to complete the audit online. Some questions contained in
the audit questionnaire may require consultation with school leadership or other colleagues, for
example, locating the school’s provider number or details of the school’s redemption policy.

The majority of schools audited used SAC tasks that were in line with the requirements of the
reaccredited VCE Biology Study Design and the VCE assessment principles. Some schools were
asked to submit further evidence and moved into the second stage of the audit, mainly due to issues
related to the use of materials available in the public domain for school-based assessment without
significant modification; including, commercially produced tasks, past VCAA examination questions
and materials produced by universities and the Victorian science and mathematics specialist centres.

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For each outcome, the audit questionnaire asked what students are required to do for the SAC
task(s), as well as the conditions under which the task(s) are conducted. For some schools, further
evidence was requested about the SAC task(s) as it was not clear from the responses provided
whether the task(s) met the definition of the task type or were directly aligned to Unit 3 and/or 4
content.

Assessment planning
All schools audited indicated that they provide students with an assessment timeline at the beginning
of the school year, and sometimes during the previous year’s orientation program, to assist students’
planning for assessment. They also indicated that SAC tasks are used for formative and summative
assessment purposes.

Most schools audited indicated that they provide students with the assessment rubrics/marking
scheme that is used to assess the SAC task prior to the task being undertaken. Most schools
indicated that they used VCAA performance descriptors to assess student work.

Task development
The responses to the audit indicated that schools used a range of methods to develop SAC tasks. In
most cases, the following were used as a basis for developing SAC tasks: practical work undertaken
by students at the school/in an external laboratory or commercially purchased products. Fieldwork
within the school was undertaken by a number of schools, particularly for SAC tasks related to
photosynthesis.

A significant proportion of audited schools had used materials available in the public domain; such as:
unmodified commercially produced materials, tasks produced by the Victorian science and
mathematics specialist centres and/or past VCAA examination questions, to develop SAC tasks. It is
not acceptable to use materials available in the public domain in an unmodified form as authentication
issues may arise and the VCE assessment principle ‘equity’ may be compromised. This includes
materials that are purported to be ‘password-protected’ and available for teacher-use only. Where
schools were using publicly available materials, they indicated that they had checked them against the
VCE Biology Study Design for alignment; however, significant modifications are also required to
ensure authentication of student work. SAC tasks developed collaboratively with other teachers must
also be modified so that the tasks are unique to each school. This ensures that students who
potentially have access to these materials available in the public domain are not able to gain an
advantage over students who have not had access to these materials prior to undertaking the school’s
SAC tasks.

In cases where it was not clear to what extent publically available resources had been modified,
schools were asked to provide the original and modified SAC tasks as further evidence. Schools must
also modify previous years’ SAC tasks to ensure that authentication does not become a problem
since contexts may be too specific to develop alternate questions and students’ use of mobile devices
may compromise the security of the SAC materials. Modification of publicly available tasks may be
possible through mapping of key knowledge and key science skills and then using other
knowledge/skills as the basis of new questions/tasks.

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The responses to the audit indicated that a number of schools did not return SAC tasks to students
since the intent was to modify the tasks for use in the following year. Returning SAC tasks to students
enables valuable feedback to be provided and allows students to refer to the tasks for revision
purposes. SAC tasks do not need to be stored at the school after the publication of study scores at
the end of the academic year.

Overall, the audit showed that schools are using SAC tasks that address a wide range of key
knowledge and key science skills. Many schools described how SAC tasks were developed to ensure
that higher order/more complex questions were included and weighted appropriately. Reference was
made to the use of closed/open questions, extended responses, incomplete diagrams and graphic
organisers, allocation of marks to various cognitive levels (for example, 30% understanding of
practical work and activities, 40% knowledge/recall of biological processes and scientific inquiry, 30%
application of biological concepts and scientific inquiry processes, generally in unfamiliar contexts),
mapping against VCAA performance descriptors, and deliberate selection of different task types.

A key finding of the audit was that many schools were using SAC tasks that were largely laboratory-
based. A suite of SAC tasks across each unit should be selected to provide a range of opportunities
for students to demonstrate, in different contexts and modes, the knowledge, skills, understandings
and capacities set out in the study design, this ensures that the VCE assessment principle of ‘balance’
is met.

Material requirements for SAC tasks were, in general, similar to external examination requirements
and typically involved students being able to use pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers and sharpeners.
Access to pre-written notes in students’ logbooks, or from external excursions or fieldwork, were also
permitted in situations where the school can ensure authentication of student work. Scientific
calculators were sometimes required for SAC tasks involving data analysis. Students were also
instructed as to what materials could not be used during SAC tasks: usually, blank sheet/s of paper,
mobile phones, electronic devices and correction fluid/tape were not permitted.

Authentication
All schools audited indicated that SAC tasks were completed under teacher supervision, making
authentication of student work less problematic. Authentication processes also included teachers
requiring student logbooks to be kept at school for those SAC tasks (such as annotations of activities
or investigations from a practical logbook or a report of a practical activity) where the task itself
involved preparatory laboratory work.

Schools with multiple classes and more than one teacher indicated marking consistency was
achieved through the use of a prepared answer sheet, discussion and/or cross-marking. For schools
with only one Biology class, marking validation was often achieved by working with another Biology
teacher within the school – or a Biology teacher at a different school – to mark a sample of ‘top’,
middle’ and ‘low’ student work.

Schools need to be aware of the authentication requirements set out in the VCE and VCAL
Administrative Handbook. Any work set over an extended period of time should include a process for
authentication of student work. Most schools provided details about the procedure used to
authenticate student work that included how logbooks were used by students and monitored by the
teacher. It is recommended that particular attention is paid to authentication for Unit 4 Outcome 3 and
that as much work as possible is observed, completed in class, initialled and dated by the teacher on
a regular basis.

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Practical work
Most schools followed the recommendations in the study design related to hours of practical work to
be undertaken in each area of study for Units 3 and 4. Schools allocating only a few hours to
undertaking and reporting on the student-designed investigation in Unit 4 Area of Study 3 were
advised to review their timelines. This was to ensure that explicit teaching of relevant key knowledge
and key skills, as well as the provision of student feedback, occurred in future. A few schools
undertook significantly more practical work than the amount indicated in the study design; which is a
school-based decision. Most schools provided a comprehensive set of practical activities that covered
a wide range of key knowledge and key science skills, and indicated that logbooks are used
extensively.

Specific safety instructions related to fieldwork and the use of biomaterials, including associated
ethical guidelines, were considered by all schools in relation to practical work in both Units 3 and 4
and, if relevant, to students developing investigations involving fieldwork or the use of biomaterials for
their independently-designed investigation in Unit 4 Area of
Study 3.

Fieldwork
Of the schools audited, some reported undertaking fieldwork related to Unit 3 whilst the large majority
undertook fieldwork in Unit 4. Commonly in Unit 3, school and/or local ecosystems were used as
source material for developing SAC tasks; for example, standard/textbook ‘recipe’ photosynthesis
practical activities were contextualised so that students investigated questions that were relevant to
their own local settings and/or related to student interests. Other types of fieldwork in Unit 3 included:
investigation of thigmotropism in seedlings grown in designated soil patch on school grounds;
utilisation of classroom freshwater and marine aquaria/local rock pools and beach environments/a
local endemic plant reserve to investigate photosynthesis; investigation involving the collection of
pollen quantities in the atmosphere to compare with weather reports and instances of students in the
school experiencing symptoms of hay fever; and workshops run by universities and the Victorian
Specialist Science and Mathematics Centres (Ecolinc, Gene Technology Access Centre and BioLab)
often including laboratory investigations tailored to individual school needs. In Unit 4, external
providers were often used as a means of accessing equipment and materials relevant to developing a
SAC task. As in Unit 3, this involved universities and Victorian science and mathematics specialist
centres (Ecolinc and Gene Technology Access Centre) as well as the Melbourne Zoo.

Student-designed practical investigation

The Unit 4 Outcome 3 student practical investigation, whilst being able to be scheduled at any point
across Units 3 and/or 4, was undertaken by most schools either during Unit 4 or after the completion
of Unit 3 and before commencing Unit 4.

A number of audited schools provided students with a booklet to scaffold student investigation
planning and progress as an adjunct to the student logbook and/or to provide an overview of the
scientific investigation process to be followed.

Each student should be assessed on their individual capacity to design, undertake and report on an
investigation. In cases where schools have multiple classes or large numbers of students in a single
class, it may not be practicable for each student to undertake a unique investigation. In these cases, it
is an acceptable practice for students to work in groups to generate data after they have individually
been assessed on their capacity to design an investigation. Teachers must approve all student

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investigations to be undertaken and not all planned student investigations can proceed due to issues
including safety, equipment availability, time constraints and/or management of large student
numbers. Further advice is provided in the VCE Biology Advice for teachers.

Schools must ensure that questions developed by students are specific enough to be able to be
investigated scientifically; for example, the question “How does the enzyme papain in pineapple juice
impact the proteins in gelatin?” has not identified an independent and dependent variable so that an
‘impact’ cannot be ascertained.

Schools must also ensure that investigations are aligned to the key knowledge in Units 3 and/or 4.

Many of the student investigations related to the topics of ‘photosynthesis’ and ‘respiration’. The use
of controls was common, but there was little evidence that students were required to repeat readings
or to consider reliability of results when analysing the data and investigation methods.

In general, schools approved investigations that were variations on a theme; for example, “What is the
effect of temperature/pH/concentration on the rate of reaction of amylase/catalase/lactase?” This
approach minimised impact on school resources, including laboratory preparation and cost of
materials. In other schools, a generic question was used to encourage students to develop more
specific questions; for example, “Which antiseptic is best at killing bacteria?” In all schools, the same
assessment rubric was used for all students, irrespective of the specific investigation question, to
ensure comparability of task scope and demand.

Assessment of a student’s capacity to design experiments may identify that proposed investigations
are not practicable or safe to run. In such cases, students may be directed to investigate an
alternative research question and subsequent assessment will be based on the alternative
investigation. The original assessment of experimental design will hold.

SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Unit 3: How do cells maintain life?

For Unit 3, the student is required to demonstrate the achievement of two outcomes.
In addition, students may undertake the Unit 4 Outcome 3 task across Units 3 and/or 4.

Area of Study 1: How do cellular processes work?

Students are required to produce a report related to at least two practical activities from a practical
logbook. The report may be presented in written or multimedia format, with almost all schools
choosing the written format. Schools should make it clear to students that the practical activities
themselves do not form part of the SAC task; approximately 50 minutes should be allocated to
completing a single report. Although students may undertake the practical activities in pairs or small
groups to generate data, the report must be produced individually.

Most schools audited specified the two practical activities that would be used as the basis of the SAC
task. One school allowed students to select relevant practical activities related to the questions in the
SAC task. Most commonly used practical activities used by schools related to photosynthesis (effect
of light intensity or colour; chlorophyll distribution), cellular respiration (yeasts and crickets), enzyme
action and movement of substances across plasma membranes. DNA extraction was less common.

The nature of the activities on which a report is based is not restricted to practical laboratory activities.
Some schools used the modelling of the structure of DNA as the basis for development of the SAC
task for this outcome.

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The audit showed that schools were misinterpreting ‘a report’ as being two separate reports related to
each practical activity, leading to the possibility of students being over-assessed. This task should be
approximately 50 minutes in duration and should not exceed 1000 words in length. Schools should
select SAC task questions that allow comparisons to be made and/or illustrate links between the
selected activities. Links may involve key knowledge and/or key skills; for example, requiring students
to compare common elements of both selected practical activities such as the role of enzymes or the
controlling of experimental variables, or to evaluate data and/or experimental procedures in terms of
science skills such as precision and accuracy. Further advice related to approaches to this task is
provided in the VCE Biology Advice for teachers resource.

The audit also showed that a number of schools added examination-style questions to the SAC task.
Although the questions were often related to the practical activities on which the SAC task was based,
these questions did not directly relate to the students’ results or findings and hence were not a valid
inclusion in the task. In addition, these added questions were often unmodified past VCAA
examination questions, thereby presenting authentication issues.

A few schools used practical activities that were aligned to content from Unit 1 in the VCE Biology
Study Design rather than Unit 3. Experiments involving movement of substances across plasma
membranes must focus on the size and/or polarity of hydrophobic or hydrophilic substances moving
across the membrane, and therefore experiments related to tonicity are not valid as the basis of a
SAC task. Teachers are advised to refer to the VCE Biology Frequently Asked Questions to clarify
their understanding of Unit 3 content.

Area of Study 2: How do cells communicate?

Whilst there is a choice of ten task types for Outcome 2 from which schools must choose at least one,
the majority of schools opted for a single task,

Outcome 2 also offers a broader range of SAC task types; however, most schools adopted a
conventional approach to assessment with very little uptake of the newer task types. The task types,
‘bioinformatics’ and ‘reflective learning journal/blog’, were not taken up by any of the audited schools.

Many of the schools audited used the task type ‘response to a set of structured questions’ modelled
on the external examination and included multiple choice and short answer questions. This
compromised the VCE assessment principle of ‘validity’ as the task was not in line with the
requirements of the VCE Biology Study Design. Teachers should note that multiple-choice questions
are not a valid item type for Unit 3 and 4 Biology as a ‘test’ is not a designated assessment task in
Unit 3 and 4. Additionally, the task type ‘data analysis’ also often reflected an ‘examination mimic’ type
task, rather than including items that required students to analyse and evaluate the data provided and
then link this analysis and evaluation to biological information, ideas, concepts, theories and models
relevant to the data included.

Restricting SAC tasks to ‘examination mimic’ type tasks, or using only the ‘practical report’ for
Outcome 2, compromises the VCE assessment principle that ‘assessment will be balanced’ since
students will only be able to demonstrate their breadth of knowledge through these task types.
Teachers are advised to select a suite of task types across Units 3 and 4 that provide a range of
opportunities for a student to demonstrate, in different contexts and modes, the knowledge, skills,
understanding and capacities set out in the study design, being mindful of not ‘over-assessing’
students. Teachers are advised to refer to the VCE Biology Advice for teachers for elaborations on
these task types.

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A further audit finding was that many of the schools selecting ‘a response to a set of structured
questions’ encompassed all aspects of Outcome 2 in a task that was significantly longer than the
indicated time in the study design of 50 minutes.

SAC tasks that enabled student choice or allocated different contexts were encouraged by schools.
For example, one approach was to allocate a specific disease to each student with time allocated out
of class for students to determine immune responses, the acquisition of immunity and how
malfunctions of the immune system cause disease. Students could then bring in their research to
respond to a generic set of questions about immunity in a 50-minute task.

Where multiple SAC tasks were used, the tasks should be designed so that the total assessment time
for an outcome is not excessive. Some schools combined two task types into one; for example, a
response to structured questions combined with either a media response or a graphic organiser –
particularly for the topic of immunity. These shortened, multiple tasks were structured to reduce
student workload whilst meeting the VCE assessment principle of ‘balance’.

Many schools demonstrated a strong focus on the use of assessment tasks for formative, as well as
summative assessment purposes, with extensive feedback being provided to students regarding
misunderstandings and identified areas for improvement.

Audit findings related to some of the newer SAC task types are summarised below:

 a report of a practical activity

The practical activity should involve the generation of primary data. It is appropriate that simulations
form the basis of data generation.

The audit showed that schools were often using material available in the public domain without
significant modification for this task. The publically available practical activity commonly used for this
task provides a novel opportunity for students to engage with contemporary scientific research.
However, it may be difficult to modify this activity in terms of the biomaterials, reagents and safety
aspects. In such cases, the practical activity itself can be used as the basis of the SAC task but all
questions must be modified significantly to ensure the VCE assessment principle ‘equity’ is met and to
avoid authentication issues.

 annotations of activities or investigations from a practical logbook

The audit showed that some schools were using practical activities that related to a single key
knowledge point in the study design. Multi-part experiments related to a single key knowledge point in
the study design were considered to be one practical activity. At least one additional activity related to
a different key knowledge point should be incorporated in the SAC task.

 a graphic organiser

For efficiency, many schools provided a graphic organiser scaffold so that students could focus on
demonstrating biological knowledge and skills more efficiently. In some schools, students were
required to sequence a set of jumbled steps in a particular biological process and to show links
between steps.

 an evaluation of research

Schools selecting this task type often allowed students some time out of class to read the article and
to define the unfamiliar scientific terms used in the selected research report, recording their results in
their logbooks. Students could bring their logbooks into class when undertaking the actual SAC task
that often involved a response to a set of questions.

 media response

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Relevant contemporary research and media/journal articles related to biology should be used in order
to avoid authentication problems. The audit showed that immunity and the debate as to whether
children should be vaccinated were common themes. An example of a more innovative SAC task
involved students being required to respond to three different types of media articles: an artwork, an
interview excerpt and a blog, that expressed different viewpoints about immunity, with students being
required to compare the biological validity of the different viewpoints.

 data analysis

This task type requires students to generate and analyse graphs from primary and/or secondary data.

 response to a set of structured questions

Of the schools audited, the majority used a ‘response to a set of structured questions’ that was
generally structured along the lines of the external examination. Schools should check the VCE
Biology Advice for teachers for more details about this task type.

 problem solving

Open-ended questions lend themselves well to this task. One school audited used an experimental
design task to test whether the popular hypothesis that ‘if food dropped on the floor is picked up within
5 seconds then it will not be dirty and it is safe to eat’ can be supported.

(If conducted during Unit 3): Unit 4 Outcome 3 (Area of Study 3 – Practical
investigation)
Whilst the majority of schools audited indicated that Unit 3 would form the basis of the practical
investigation, few schools chose to schedule the practical investigation SAC task during Unit 3.
Practical investigation topics commonly related to photosynthesis, cellular respiration or factors
affecting enzyme activity and reflected some of the practical activities undertaken by students in the
previous study design. Typically, schools set a generic question; such as, “What factors affect the rate
of enzymes?” from which students subsequently developed specific questions. With many schools
having large classes, restriction of investigation topics was based on available resources.

Schools are advised to check the VCAA's Advice for teachers resource, which has an extensive list of
possible topics. However, schools are reminded that since these resources are available in the public
domain, they must be modified prior to being used as a SAC task.

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Unit 4: How does life change and respond to challenges over time?
For Unit 4 the student is required to demonstrate the achievement of three outcomes:

 Outcome 1 requires the student to write a report using primary and/or secondary data
 Outcome 2 allows for a choice of either a response to an issue or a report of a laboratory
investigation
 Outcome 3 may be undertaken across Units 3 and/or 4. Almost all schools audited completed this
during Unit 4.

Practical work averaged 4.5 hours for Area of Study 1 and 5 hours for Area of Study 2. The student
investigation for Outcome 3 was staged, on average, over 9.5 hours for Area of
Study 3.

In general, the audit showed that SAC tasks used for Outcomes 1 and 2 were preceded by a practical
component, involving a laboratory activity conducted either in the school laboratory or involving
external facilities and/or facilitators. Issues raised through the audit related to lengthy SAC tasks
where schools were including pre-task activities in the time allocation for the SAC task; such as,
laboratory work and/or the use of external resources and providers. The task involves the production
of a report or response, and that this should be the basis of the assessment rubrics that are used.
Students who had not accessed any pre-task activities must be provided with alternative opportunities
to access the relevant information prior to undertaking the SAC task.

Area of Study 1: How are species related?

The audit found that schools were using appropriately sourced materials that had been checked by
the teacher to ensure alignment with the key knowledge and key science skills in the study design.
The majority of schools required that the report was written whilst few schools required a multimodal
format for the report. A number of schools used this task as a means of assessing students’ capacity
to deal with bioinformatics. The length of the task was most often within the specifications of
approximately 50 minutes or not exceeding 1000 words and generally included reading time. Schools
that exceeded task length specifications often included a number of multi-part scenarios; one or more
scenarios should be deleted and/or to reduce the number of questions within each provided scenario.

Of the schools audited, many used secondary data as the basis of developing a SAC task whilst few
used primary data. some schools used a combination of primary and secondary data. Some of the
well-designed SAC tasks combined theory and practice.

Most schools audited used a range of questions of different cognitive levels of difficulty to assess a
broad range of key knowledge and key science skills. Higher order questions involved cognitive
processes such as synthesis and generation of new ideas.

Well-designed SAC tasks focused on the nature of scientific evidence. Other high quality SAC tasks
involved students developing hypotheses and making predictions about evolutionary relationships and
then using data to justify whether their hypotheses and predictions were supported.

The three most commonly assessed key science skills related to use of appropriate biological
terminology, representations and conventions; discussion of relevant biological information, ideas,
concepts, theories and models and the connections between them; and use of clear, coherent and
concise expression.

A large concern raised through the audit related to schools using unmodified materials available in the
public domain. Although it is appropriate for schools to use publicly available materials as stimulus

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material (including published resources and workshops offered by external providers) the actual SAC
task questions should be modified so that they are unique to the school. Some schools appropriately
used these publicly available materials for formative assessment purposes due to the complexity and
specificity of the researched background information and the subsequent difficulty in being able to
create SAC tasks that would be unique to the school.

Contexts for SAC tasks included: evolution of the parasitic lice that have affected humans over time;
investigation of the cognitive capacity of hominoids; biostratigraphy (use of Cenozoic molluscs to
determine the ages of sedimentary rocks); use and creation of phylogenetic trees based on molecular
homologies to show relatedness between species; comparison of homimin skulls to determine
relatedness between species; case study of Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease as a basis for
considering the consequences of biological change in human evolution; and use of secondary data
related to homologous structures (range of skeletons: frog, bird, dolphin, dog, cat, human) to consider
similarities and differences, evolutionary advantages and disadvantages, and how different
organisms occupying different habitats can have similar features.

Area of Study 2: How do humans impact on biological processes?

There are two task types for this outcome, a response to an issue or a report of a laboratory
investigation. Of the schools audited, the majority chose the laboratory report. All schools set the
same issue or practical investigation for all students. Schools that chose the task type ‘a response to
an issue’, required students to present their report in a multimodal format.

The laboratory activity that preceded the SAC task was often undertaken using external providers or
following practical procedures available in the public domain. Although it is appropriate for schools to
use publicly available laboratory activities, the actual SAC task must be unique to the school so that
the VCE assessment principle of ‘equity’ and authentication requirements are being met.

Audit findings related to each of the two task types are summarised below:

 Response to an issue

Relevant topics included: an analysis of the use of biotechnology to protect the honey bee industry in
Australia from attack by the Varroa mite, and the ethics of alteration of embryonic DNA. Schools
opting for this task type were able to assess both key knowledge and key science skills, including
experimental design. The multimodal format facilitated adherence to time and word limitations for the
task. There were no issues raised in the audit with this task type. Selected issues should be
contemporary, ideally sourced in the same academic year and should not be re-used in subsequent
years to avoid authentication problems occurring.

 Report of a laboratory investigation

Relevant investigations (performed either at the school or using external resources) included DNA
profiling, the use of restriction enzymes and molecular markers, gel electrophoresis, transference of
antibiotic resistance, cloning of bacterial DNA using restriction enzymes and a plasmid vector and the
transformation of E. coli using the fluorescent protein gene from jellyfish. The audit showed that
schools were developing SAC tasks that included questions other than those that related directly to
the laboratory investigation. To ensure that the VCE assessment principle ‘valid and reasonable’ is
being met, questions must relate specifically to the laboratory investigation undertaken.

Unit 4 Outcome 3: Practical investigation

Of the schools audited, some schools offered students a choice of investigation topic across Units 3
and 4, whilst many schools restricted the investigation topic to Unit 3. few schools limited the

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investigation to Unit 4. Available school resources generally affected the extent to which schools
offered students a choice of investigation topic. Many schools that were audited ran the investigation
in Unit 4 or between the end of Unit 3 and the start of Unit 4.

Through the audit, the following concerns were noted for Unit 4 Outcome 3:

 investigation question did not identify the variables being investigated

 giving students a topic and possible variables, thereby not providing students with opportunities to
work independently to design their own investigations
 student questions and investigations where variables had not been controlled
 student questions that could simply be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’
 student questions that could not be investigated in the allocated timeframe
 student questions that confuse ‘affect’ and ‘effect’
 too much time spent on poster production
 some student investigation questions do not rely on practical experimentation to find an answer.

Schools may provide data to students in situations where, after designing and running their own
investigation, students do not generate a viable set of data that can be analysed.

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