A student guide To completing Level 1 & 2 portfolios

What’s involved? Design a project outline. An explanation of what your project is designed to show. Generally the project will be designed to compare or explore the information provided by two lots of figures. Get 2 data sets.* These are two (or more) sets of figures (made up of at least 12 items for Level 1 or 20 items for Level 2) which will produce the information required for your project. Make a few calculations. These are the ‘sums’ which are used to illustrate the point or purpose of your project. Write a conclusion. A brief summary showing the conclusions drawn from the calculations in two different ways, ie using text and diagram. * DATA EXAMPLES Weights and sizes Costs of things Speeds and distance Height, length, capacity Age, gender, weight Times and timetables Ranges of activity Performance measures

What’s your topic? The project can be on just about any topic or interest such as comparing colleagues’ ages, qualifications, height or gender - which can usually be quickly obtained - with the same type of information collected elsewhere or at another time. National figures like these, with diagrams, for your use are included at the end of this presentation

Example of successful project outlines The coffee shop I work in is being refurbished. The project I am undertaking is to see what type of customer is using our shop by recording their gender, their approximate time at the table and amount they spend. I will do this on three days and record my findings. I will then produce three diagrams to illustrate my results and, using a variety of calculations, show the trends for each of the days and compare them. I will write a conclusion which will help us decide on the new décor. My team members use different forms of transport to get to work and some travel long distances. I am going to survey 15 colleagues and find out how they come to work and what sort of distances they have to travel. I thought of splitting my information into two, looking at age or gender differences but I’ve decided to compare my data with national figures.

Minimum datasets required for projects

You need 1 diagram to go with one of your datasets Pie chart Bar Chart Examples of acceptable diagrams

Project example 1 John Forbes Application of Number L2 Project outline I intend to test 12 male and 12 female members of our gym aged between years old at Central Fitness, Birmingham. I will be collecting data on upper body strength and endurance with a press up test. Their scores will be compared against the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) norms for both gender and age. As John has done here, you can produce or source the 2 datasets yourself. They could be from a random sample, a short questionnaire or figures based on your own activity, experience and knowledge. Publications, company records and statistics, newspapers and the internet are other sources. John’s conclusions from this project are on a later slide

Project example 2 John has used records from his work in a gym as data. He has measured the number of press-ups managed by 12 males and 12 females and entered them into tables as the two data sources. He has also generated a pie chart from one of the tables. Most students have information like this they can generate quickly in the workplace.

How to write up calculations Explain everything you do and why you’re doing it as if you are writing for a beginner. Use your own words… 680

Doing the sums L1 & L2 1. Addition. Add at least two lists of values showing any carrying over that you do. 2. Subtraction. While doing your calculations make sure you do a couple of subtraction sums. 3. Range. Demonstrate a range between two numbers. (Highest value subtracted from the lowest). 4. Mean (Average). Work out a couple of averages. (Add a list of numbers together and divide the total by the number of values in the list). 5. Percentage. Find some percentages among your figures. (For example, each value in a list is a certain percentage of the total or value #1 is 30% greater than value #2 etc) 6. Convert. Work with and convert (showing your method) between percentages, fractions and decimals. 25% = ¼ = 0.25 MUST DO Write out, and work out, some calculations by hand and check the results with a calculator

Doing the sums L2 only Median. Mid-point in a descending (or ascending) list of values. (For lists with an even number of values, add middle two values and divide by 2). Mode. Value that appears most frequently in a list. Formula. Use a couple of formula in your calculations such as: Area = L x W Volume = L x W x H Average = Average speed = MUST DO State the level of accuracy you are using ie. “I rounded down the total to 2 decimal places” Sum of terms Number of terms Total distance Total time

Area and volume

Coming to a conclusion Select at least 2 ways to present your findings Present your findings clearly using a chart, graph or diagram and describe your methods Describe what your results tell you and how they meet your purposes

Example of project conclusion As I had predicted and can be seen from the mean value, the male participants (30) managed more press-ups compared to the females (18). It can also been seen from the percentages and the pie charts that the male group had a higher proportion of participants within the ‘Excellent’ (33%) and ‘Desirable’ (33%) range, compared to the female group who achieved 25% and 17% respectively. The males had a wider range (21) of total press-ups achieved compared to the range of 19 from the female group. This is a difference of only 2 between the two groups and is therefore considered insignificant. From these results it can be claimed that the male population at Central Fitness, Birmingham have higher levels of upper body strength and endurance compared to their female counterparts. In this example John has drawn some interesting comparisons between male and female performance in press- ups. Project conclusions are clearly related to his project outline.

Information for tutors 1 Copy and paste tables to Excel or Word to use in calculations. Accompanying diagrams can be pasted directly into the portfolio. National population Mode of transport to work Driving a car or van11,451, % On foot2,218, % People who work mainly at or from home1,728, % Bus; Mini Bus or coach1,696, % Passenger in a car or van1,348, % Train910, % Underground; metro; light rail; Tram705, % Bicycle612, % Motorcycle; Scooter; moped234, % Taxi or minicab117, % Other92, % National working population21,117,767 Source: National Statistics Online

Information for tutors 2 National population Distance travelled to work Works mainly at or from home 2,872, % Less than 2km (1 1 / 4 miles) 4,223, % 2km to less than 5km (3 miles) 4,265, % 5km to less than 10km (6 1 / 4 miles) 3,864, % 10km to less than 20km (12 1 / 2 miles) 3,231, % 20km to less than 30km (18 1 / 2 miles) 1,140, % 30km to less than 40km (25 miles) 506, % 40km to less than 60km (37 miles) 464, % 60km and over 570, % 21,117, ,117,767 Copy and paste tables to Excel or Word to use in calculations. Accompanying diagrams can be pasted directly into the portfolio. Source: National Statistics Online

Information for tutors 3 Useful for a survey among work colleagues. Circulate questionnaire requesting highest level of qualification or gender & job title and make comparison with national picture. National occupations by qualifications, Exercise and Fitness Industry National occupations by gender, Exercise and Fitness Industry Source: SkillsActive National Survey 2008