Artefact Projects Mr Harbron Year 12 Enhancement Coordinator and EPQ Centre Coordinator

What we’ll be doing today. In today’s session, we will look at; What constitutes an artefact. Selecting a title and measuring success. Plotting an artefact project against the marking criteria At the end of the session, there will be time for one-to- one support.

artefact An artefact can be a physical outcome such as a book or a short filmor it can be a presentation to a specific audience, a play, it could be an event such as a fashion show or a musical evening. In fact no limit In fact there is almost no limit to what can constitute an artefact, as long as it has research at its core. What is an artefact?

Take a moment to share your idea for your artefact with others around you. How would you sum up the type of artefact you are aiming to create? What is your artefact?

‘What all artefact projects have in common is that they must have a clear research aim/purpose and be well evaluated.’ - AQA Students who choose artefact projects must understand that the planned research should form the largest part of their project and that the production of the artefact can only commence once this detailed and wide research is completed. Include a written report which shows that the projects is research-based. An artefact project is still a research project!

Title selection is a common problem for artefact projects. Some titles simply state what is being produced; A monologue and analysis of Myra Hindley. How to recreate the Aurora Borealis in a school laboratory. Create an original scene for the musical ‘Wicked’. While these projects can be successful, they have to be done to a very high standard to achieve a good grade. Title selection

Rather than simply stating what you want to create, AQA advises; For artefacts it is frequently the aims and objectives, set by the student, which demonstrate clarity and focus. So does your title say how you will measure the success of the artefact after you have created it? Title selection

Example Example: “Build a ‘High Performance’ Desktop PC and evaluate it against commercial prebuilt alternatives based on efficiency and production cost.” The student who submitted this project had a clear idea of what it was that he wanted to achieve and how he was going to measure its success. Title selection How will you measure the success of your artefact?

1.Manage In order to achieve good marks in this section, the candidate must; Develop, modify and explain a solid project plan. Have clear evidence of any decisions made and explain why they were made. Make clear use of the production log documents to highlight any production decisions. Meeting the success criteria

2.Use of resources Not researching the project fully is the most common mistake made by artefact students. You must; Fully research each area of the project. This may mean analysing other similar artefacts, testing equipment, interviewing experts or traditional research. The most important thing is that, throughout this process, you analyse and evaluate the reliability and validity of the resources they are using. Meeting the success criteria

3.Develop and realise A high quality product is not enough to gain high marks. You also need to; demonstrate appropriate decisions – choosing materials, for example. demonstrate the application of information gained from research to the project. have clear evidence of the measured success of the project. Meeting the success criteria

The written report for an artefact project is words long. The report that accompanies the artefact should not be a ‘write-up’ of what you have done. It should demonstrate a synthesis of the research and how the research has influenced the design decisions that underpin the final product. Students should ask of themselves: ‘Have I done what I said I was going to do and can I prove it?’ The written report