Reviews
School Science Review March 1998
Version A of Pear
This is described by the authors as 'classroom material to take learners
... through the NEAB examination syllabuses' and as such is targeted at
key stage 4 although more able students in key stage 3 will find the work
reasonably accessible.
The package comprising worksheets, answer sheets, mark schemes, mark grids
and supporting advice for staff, is on three 3.5 inch floppy disks and
is easy to install. The accompanying instructions for the installation
and use of this application are a model of clarity writers of PC programmes
please note! An IT phobic colleague expressed unbounded joy at the ease
with which he could access, download, revise and print the material.
Users can readily access a comprehensive and easy use menu covering all
the main aspects of the physics curriculum subdivided into topics such
as electricity, waves and space. Students could easily use this as a package
via networked stations. The self contained worksheets for each topic typically
provide sufficient assessment material to diagnose the desired outcome(s)
of, say, a single lesson. They start with sentence completion exercises
where students can gain some easy motivating marks and continue with selected
items from the NEAB syllabus. Each sheet has 20 marks-worth of questions,
making them a 30 minute exercise (or homework). Prefixes are employed
to indicate elements assigned to the higher tier and/or single physics
for the prescribed NEAB syllabuses.
With economy in mind, copy sheets are available for the students to copy
and complete. Answer sheets are designed for use by staff and/or students.
A welcome move.
For approximately every six worksheets on a topic there is a revision
sheet.
I enjoyed sifting through this wealth of material and would imagine many
teachers similarly being attracted by the ease of use and the comprehensive
nature of the coverage. Some of my students would struggle with the language
level and certain graphical and presentational aspects will no doubt improve
with revision.
I am not sure that the proliferation of completion exercises, the lack
of question structure and mark indicators provides the best preparation
for the rigours of the real examination, but these are relatively minor
points. This 'magnum opus' produced by two experienced physics teachers,
father and son, is a cornucopia of riches. By the way, the authors provide
a FAX help line and welcome constructive comment to improve the package.
If your department needs to upgrade its assessment material or OFSTED
have mentioned, as they do, the targeting of individual needs then this
package should be considered.
Dave Kitson
