The stage 6 science syllabus support document has been designed to help teachers interpret the syllabus. This means teachers will explore what is the actual objective of the syllabus and what information have to be bore in mind when planning learning and assessment. The document emphasizes the necessity to plan both simultaneously.
So before planning a unit program, the scope and sequence and skills mapping is to be done by the teachers. Again the support document guides us to the basics of scope and sequence and skills mapping. Scope and sequence includes the sequence, duration, outcomes assessed in the units along with time and type of the assessment task. And the skill map shows the skills to focused on each module along with their level of learning experiences (model, practice). According to the map, the leaning strategies can be implemented in the program. Moreover, with scope and sequence in hand the teacher exactly knows which outcomes are intended to cover and design the program accordingly.
Moreover, the support document also outline the indicative hours of work for practical, field work and theory and necessity of OHS policy and safety measures during teaching.
Finally designing a program is a work of creation based on these basic principle where syllabus outcomes are focused, evidence of learning is identified and reliable and valid methods of gathering the evidence of learning is included.
To clarify our understanding, the appendix of the support document includes an example of a part of program. It shows that a progam begins with contextual outline of the module and the intended outcomes from the module. Then syllabus dot points, skills and teaching strategies are placed in 3 columns respectively. Every program is the result of thought and planning of module by a teacher in a systematic manner which will any teacher to look at the document and interpret the idea.
After carefully going through the support document and the stage 6 draft sample unit for Biology, this was my summarized understanding of necessity of the support document in designing a program for a module in biology.
Bibliography:
NSW Board of Studies. (2008). Science Stage 6 draft sample learning unit for
Biology. NSW: Board of Studies. Available from
NSW Board of Studies. (2009). Science Stage 6 Revised support document.
Available from
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/biology.html
I agree Rezwana, the supprt document for the stage 6 biology syllabus aids teachers as an important reasource to help in the planning process of creating units of work. it provides valuable suggestions and points to consider. the ones that stand out to me the most are the importance of having a suitable number of outcomes included (not too many that it is not achievable to teach these in the time frame) and that the unit of work should be centred around/have the outcomes as its focus. i think this is important, especially for us as new teachers, as it may be tempting to include many outcomes and lots of content in the unit of work that can not be covered in the time frame and without taking into account many of the other important factors raised by the support document such as deciding how evidence will be gathered and how feedback will be given. The support document gives further information regarding this.
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