Resources for Entry Level and Combined Science

Resources for Entry Level and Combined Science 31 July 2020

Hints and Tips - 6 minute read

Ann Wolstenholme - Subject Advisor - Science

Ann Wolstenholme We know that Entry Level Science is under resourced so during the lockdown, we have not been idle.

For our Entry Level Science (R483) we’ve been repurposing the legacy resources from R591.

OUP, UYSEG and Nuffield produced a set of teaching resources to help teachers teach R591. They have kindly given us permission to adapt them.

We have taken these excellent resources and identified the ones that are applicable to R483. We then plugged any gaps in content coverage with resources from other sources such as the learned societies, YouTube or from other parts of our website.

What you’ll find in the zipped resources file

For each topic, these resources follow a similar format. When you open the zip file for a topic it will contain the following files:

Activity sheets. Usually, there are at least 3 but sometimes as many as 6. For topic ELC2 there are 4, the first 4 files in the image below. These sheets sometimes have instructions for the activities or are activities to help cement the students’ learning.
A teacher instruction sheet which gives activity ideas.
Finally, there is a ‘read me’ document which maps the Entry Level content statements to Combined Science content statements. This shows where this content could be used to help access Combined Science content.

Files as they appear in the topic ELC2 zip folder with descriptions of the files role.

Let’s now look at these files more closely.

Teacher instruction document

This contains several activities designed to cover the subject content. Each teacher instruction document starts with an overview of the topic. It then suggests activities which students can do and others for teachers to demonstrate.

For example, activity sheet ELBC2a-c will look something like this:

Picture of the layout of one activity from the teacher instructions sheet with a description of each part.

Each activity starts with the title of the activity which shows the content statements the activity covers. In this case, ELC2a-c.
The set of bullet points detail the requirements for the activity. This could be as here (per group) so for the students or for (teacher) if equipment required for a demonstration.
The next section is the teaching notes. This section gives teacher instructions to help run the activity. There may also be technical notes to help you or your technician when setting up the activity.
Finally, there may also be notes on health and safety were applicable.

Activity sheets

The activity sheets are for your students to complete. They may require the student to follow instructions or complete tasks to cement their learning.

For example, activity sheet ELBC2a-c is as follows:

Activity sheet for ELCa-2c: Cabbage dye.

This activity sheet starts by helping students identify the equipment needed. It then gives them the instructions for the practical to follow. Section 3 helps in explaining the reasons for the steps in the practical. Finally, section 5 encourages them to record their results.

Read me document

Since the our Entry Level Science specification is mapped to GCSE Combined Science, these resources could be used to check Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 progression, for learner checks or as starter activities. These resources are aimed at students working below level 1, but could be useful stepping stones into GCSE.

The ‘read me’ document maps the content for each topic. For example, from ELB3:

The table below shows this mapping for Topic B3, Entry Level ref: ELB3a:

Entry Level statement	GCSE (9-1) Gateway A combined science ref.	GCSE (9-1) Gateway A combined science statement	GCSE (9-1) 21st Century Science B combined science ref.	GCSE (9-1) 21st Century Science B combined science statement
Understand that changes in our surroundings can affect our body’s internal environment.	B3.3a	Explain the importance of maintaining a constant internal environment in response to internal and external change, to include allowing metabolic reactions to proceed at appropriate rates.	B5.4.1	Explain the importance of maintaining a constant internal environment in response to internal and external change.

Some of the activity sheets from this topic could be used to assess your students’ knowledge.

For example, ELB3a:

An extract from an activity sheet showing a complete the sentence activity.

This extract from the activity sheet ELB3a could be used as a revision tool on ‘how we maintain our body at 37˚C’, as a learner check to check knowledge of control systems or for remote or flipped learning.

We have resources that cover all Entry Level Science topics. They are found under the planning and teaching tab on the Entry Level webpage.

These resources are also on the Combined Science webpages under planning and teaching activities. Alternatively, these can also be found on the web pages for biology, chemistry and physics.

Stay connected

Do you have any resources you that you are using for our Entry Level Science? Are you willing to share them? Tell us about these in the comments below.

You can email us your questions at science@ocr.org.uk, follow us on Twitter @OCR_science and sign up to receive our science email updates.

About the author

Ann Wolstenholme – Subject Advisor, Science

Ann is passionate about supporting students of all abilities in their education and has worked for OCR looking after GCSE Sciences for over ten years, with specific responsibilities for Entry Level Science and Cambridge Technicals in Applied Science. Ann has a degree in Chemistry and Maths from the Open University. In her spare time, Ann enjoys travelling to France with her family.