Physics booklet design feedback

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Thanks for helping us get our subject booklets right!

Now you've looked at the draft booklet, please could you let us know your opinion on the design. Do you like it? Is there anything you think we should change? Is there anything about it that you love and think we should do more of?

Career question section

On the final page, we are planning to include a section to help students turn what they have learnt from the booklet into actionable steps. This could include things like:

  • A table of workplace skills gained in physics with space for students to give examples of where they've demonstrated them in class.
  • Space for students to pick a job role listed in the booklet which they like, and the steps they could take to get there from their current point in their academic career.

We would also include guidance notes on how they can incorporate this into their online Success at School Career Profile.

Ambassadors, we would like to know:

  • Does this approach sound sensible to you?
  • Is there a better format you can think of?
  • What kind of questions/prompts should we include?
  • Are there any specific questions/prompts we should include?
1 Unocornulo (Careers Leader) 7 years ago
Unocornulo

The booklet looks really good and I like the idea of the space for pupils to give examples, etc. It mentions single, double or separate sciences - is there no triple science choice at GCSE in the future (KS3 section)?
It needs to be emphasised that there are lots of ways into careers using sciences (A Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships).

2 mitesh 7 years ago
mitesh
 
(Original post by Unocornulo  7 years ago)
The booklet looks really good and I like the idea of the space for pupils to give examples, etc. It mentions single, double or separate sciences - is there no triple science choice at GCSE in the future (KS3 section)? It needs to be emphasised that there are lots of ways into careers using sciences (A Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships).

Thanks for the feedback

3 lhamshaw (Assistant Headteacher) 7 years ago
lhamshaw

The booklet looks great. Really well done!

As regards the KS4 options, I don't think there is the option for students to take single science any more. I believe it is now combined science (worth 2 GCSEs, also known as Trilogy science) and Separate science GCSEs (worth 3 GCSEs)

On the "Where can Physics take me?" page - in the 4th box the header doesn't match with the text. (headers is for KS3, the text is about Y12/13 work experience)

The idea of a table of workplace skills gained would be an excellent one. We are introducing an "Employability passport" next year and students having the ability to reflect upon curricular learning and linking it the the CBI 7 employability skills is going to be vital in this.

The ability for students to pick a Physics job role and record their next steps would be useful for some ([link removed] those that the career field relates to) but not all

4 mitesh 7 years ago
mitesh
 
(Original post by lhamshaw  7 years ago)
The booklet looks great. Really well done! As regards the KS4 options, I don't think there is the option for students to take single science any more. I believe it is now combined science (worth 2 GCSEs, also known as Trilogy science) and Separate science GCSEs (worth 3 GCSEs) On the "Where can Physics take me?" page - in the 4th box the header doesn't match with the text. (headers is for KS3, the text is about Y12/13 work experience) The idea of a table of workplace skills gained would be an excellent one. We are introducing an "Employability passport" next year and students having the ability to reflect upon curricular learning and linking it the the CBI 7 employability skills is going to be vital in this. The ability for students to pick a Physics job role and record their next steps would be useful for some ([link removed] those that the career field relates to) but not all

Great thanks - on the Employability passport, have you seen the skills passport and Employability log we have created for students on our site?

5 TTCCareers (Careers Guidance Officer) 7 years ago
TTCCareers

I'm really liking the design of the booklet and it's very comprehensive, with loads of useful information. I like the idea of the action plan at the end and I think students will really appreciate that as it tailors it to them. There were two things I wasn't sure about:

- As others have mentioned, the Science GCSE options vary quite a bit. At our school for example you can only take Double Science or Triple Science, so it might be better to make this part a little more general, [link removed] "At year 9 you will choose your GCSE options - Science will always be included, although you can choose more or less Science within your timetable depending on what you want to do in the future."
- This is a bit of a pedantic point, but I felt that the job roles section on pages 12-14 would look better if the top lines all were in line with each other (the pink one looks a bit misplaced next to the blue ones).

I really like the idea of the workplace skills, as identifying transferable skills is something that students often struggle with. It might be a good idea to provide some links at the end of the booklet to prompt further research, such as Institute of Physics or other relevant organisations or websites that could help them explore even more career routes than the ones listed.

6 kpurser (Community & Enterprise Manager) 7 years ago
kpurser

Really liking the format, this tool will be user friendly for all year groups. Personally I think the front page looks very young you and feel generally it homing in on mainly space. Might be an idea to use a range of industry visuals to promote the diversity of the subject. Thank you for keeping us involved with the developments and welcoming our feedback. Looking forward to using the documents.

7 JHunter (Head of Careers) 7 years ago
JHunter

The Booklet is laid out in a clear format and you can clearly identify each section.

In the KS3 'Choose Your GCSE Options' section it mentions single or double award science but the pupils either do combined or triple. This would also mean that the GCSE KS4 paragraph on the opposite page would also need altering.

In the table of Where can Physics take me the title after KS4/Year 11 is incorrect it says KS3/YR9.

The pictures needs to be more realistic and show people working in real jobs, like the image of the engineer. The picture on the front looks too much like it is aimed at primary school level pupils rather than secondary school level pupils. Also, too many of the pictures are space related and I work with the science department and they were not impressed that all the images that had been chosen were space related.

I think that it will be good for the pupils to see how workplace skills can be transferable and it will hopefully help them more within school.

I feel that the pupils will get a lot out of this booklet and they will find it to be very informative.

8 mitesh 7 years ago
mitesh
 
(Original post by JHunter  7 years ago)
The Booklet is laid out in a clear format and you can clearly identify each section. In the KS3 'Choose Your GCSE Options' section it mentions single or double award science but the pupils either do combined or triple. This would also mean that the GCSE KS4 paragraph on the opposite page would also need altering. In the table of Where can Physics take me the title after KS4/Year 11 is incorrect it says KS3/YR9. The pictures needs to be more realistic and show people working in real jobs, like the image of the engineer. The picture on the front looks too much like it is aimed at primary school level pupils rather than secondary school level pupils. Also, too many of the pictures are space related and I work with the science department and they were not impressed that all the images that had been chosen were space related. I think that it will be good for the pupils to see how workplace skills can be transferable and it will hopefully help them more within school. I feel that the pupils will get a lot out of this booklet and they will find it to be very informative.

Hi JHunter,

I agree with you on the space images, it's already been noted as a feedback point.

Thanks you for the other comments, they are very helpful.

Thanks

Mitesh

9 Christopher_Webb (Careers Adviser/CEIAG Coordinator) 7 years ago
Christopher_Webb

Agree with some of the statements above regarding the graphics/images being pitched at a slightly higher age range but generally the formatting is really nice and the feedback from our Science department is that these booklets would be extremely useful as prompts for subject teachers at GCSE Options evenings (or even using some of the pages as part of poster displays for subject-specific careers boards, particularly in relation to the section on pathways and grades needed for certain job roles related to Physics).

The best sections for me are the 'How will Physics prepare me for work?' and 'Knowledge you'll gain from studying Physics' snapshots and the job role profiles provide a really succinct overview of routes into different pathways related to Physics. As some of the posters above have identified, a wider range of Physics-related images and possibly two or three case studies would be ideal, but overall it looks great and will be a really useful resource for both our students and our subject teachers (particularly now the BTEC and apprenticeship information has been included!)

10 education (Account Manager Schools) 7 years ago
education

Hi there - thanks for all the feedback.

I wanted to share 2 additional accompanying lesson plans with this resource and get your comments or feedback.

Lesson plan 1 - http://fliphtml5.com/qcdc/vrlg
Lesson plan 2 (hot of the press) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N8nMTZwERpmacc2LM38ncxpKbM7YCd5bnhzi8Ml6cbs/edit?usp=sharing

We've pitched it at KS4 level, but feel these could be easily adapted for KS3 or KS5.

Do you think the lesson plan is pitched correctly and is there anything we need to change?

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