1 A/AS level Chemistry TAS Workshop for Teachers 18 October 2007

2 Teacher Assessment Scheme  Practical paper of the A/AS level Chemistry Examination  20% of the subject mark  Compulsory to all school candidates (including first-timers and repeaters)  Private candidates : either (i) use previous TAS result, or (ii) take practical exam

3 TAS allows:  better link between theory and practical work  students to experience a wider range of experimentation  the assessment of a full range of practical abilities  reduction in examination pressure  teachers to provide frequent feedback to students  increase in teachers’ professionalism

4 Requirements of TAS  Lab work should cover different areas and types of experiment Area :CH, EQ, KI & EN Type:P, QL and QN

5 Requirements of TAS(cont’d)  Number of experiments A-level  15 experiments in S6  8 experiments in S7 AS-level  13 experiments in 2 years

6 Requirements of TAS(cont’d)  Ability area A  Ability area B  Ability area C  Manipulative skills, skills in observation and general bench performance  Presentation of data, interpretation of results, planning of experiments and project work  attitude towards practical chemistry

7 Minimum requirement for each candidate Ability area No. of Assessment Marks reqd. S6S7Over the two years A>2>2>1>1>4>4 >10 B>2>2>2>2>4>4 C112 A-level (First-timer)

8 Minimum requirement for each candidate Ability area No. of Assessment Marks reqd. S6S7Over the two years A>1>1>1>1>2>2 >7 B>1>1>1>1>2>2 C112 AS-level (First-timer)

9 Repeaters & transferred candidates in TAS  Students who join S7 chemistry classes directly in the year of repetition or transfer.  Ignore all their previous TAS marks or practical examination marks.  Make assessment as follows: A-level :minimum 3A, 3B and 1C AS-level :minimum 2A, 2B and 1C

10 Making assessments  Assess each student sufficiently on each ability.  Not necessary to assess all students on the same day and on the same experiment.  Assess as unobtrusively as possible.

11 Making assessments (cont’d)  Assess on a 10-point scale: 10-9very good 8-7good 6-5average 4-3weak 2-1very weak (Refer to Appendix III of TAS Handbook.)

12 Making assessments (cont’d) 3 ways for allocation of marks: (i)Mark Scheme (ii)Impression (iii)Overall impression over a longer period of time, for a particular area e.g. area C

13 Project work in TAS  Not compulsory  Involve practical work and experimental investigation  Include: designing experiment performing the investigation writing the report

14 Project work in TAS (cont’d)  One project = max. 3 experiments  For each student, each project can be used to assess 1A & 1B only

15 Lab reports  Language medium used must be the same as that chosen for the written exam.  Detailed reports: object of expt, chemical principles involved, experimental method, results, interpretation and discussion, conclusion. First-timers: 4 for AL and 3 for ASL Repeaters: 2 for AL and 1 for ASL  All reports should be marked.

16 Information about TAS:  Refer to Handbook on the A/AS Chemistry Teacher Assessment Scheme  HKEAA website:  Enquiry: (Ms Tansy Chun) (Mr CW Pau)

17 Always consult your group coordinators when you have queries or problems Reminder

18 Common problems reported by coordinators

19 (1) Unclear experiment titles  E.g. (i) Project 1 (ii)To prepare a carboxylic acid  Titles entered in the TAS assessment records should be informative and specific.

20 (2) Insufficient no. of preparative experiments  Experiments indicated as P are not preparative experiments. Preparative experiments should involve techniques such as: handling of gases, filtration, crystallization, recrystallisation, distillation, reflux, drying, liquid-liquid extraction, purity control by determining melting point / boiling point. A minimum of 2 P experiments should be carried out. (TAS Handbook)

21 (3) Mark range too narrow / too wide  For each candidate, the mark awarded should reflect the typical standard of the candidate.  For the whole class, the marks awarded should be able to discriminate candidates with different abilities.

22 (4)Teacher changes  Best to have more than one teacher familiar with the Scheme  Out-going teacher to hand over his/her work on TAS to new teacher, including: List of experiments and their handouts Records of TAS marks awarded to students e.g. printouts of software TAS program, its passwords, and backup diskettes, if any  Inform coordinator of the change

23 (5) Mark Adjustment  Rank order of students in a class will be preserved.  Adjusted TAS mean marks calculated from Written Paper mean marks.  TAS marks will be shifted upwards/downwards.  SD of TAS marks will be preserved.

24 Skills to be tested in GCE A Level Science Subjects  P – Planning  I – Implementation  A – Analysing Evidence and Drawing Conclusions  E – Evaluating Evidence and Procedures

25 Questions & Answers