Assignments from 2018

Before you do your assignment for real, check out the practical skills booklet, containing everything you need to know to create a great assignment.

For teachers: this is what is allowed in to the write up phase

Here are some sample assignment links

TopicStarter SheetAdditional Help reporting stage
OUR DYNAMIC UNIVERSE
'g' AH determining g A
H method determining g A
'g' BH determining g BH method determining g B
SlopesH acc down slope AH method acc down slope A
SlopesH Assign acc down slope BH method acc down slope B
PARTICLES AND WAVES
RefractionH Refraction AH method Refraction A
Critical AngleH critical angleH method critical angle
PlanckH determining h AH method determining h
PlanckH determining h BH method determining h B
1/d2H inverse squareH method 1/d2
ELECTRICITY
A.C. D.C. aH ac dc AH method ac dc A
A.C. D.C. bH ac dc BH method ac dc B
Vp v VrmsH Vp v VrmsH method Vp v Vrms
Internal Resistance & EMF AH EMFH method EMF
Power matchingH power matchingAdvanced
H method power matching
Capacitors AH Capacitor A
H method Capacitor A
Capacitors BH Capacitor BH method Capacitor B
Capacitors C
Capacitors D
Other possible
Wheatstone BridgeH Wheatstone BridgeWheatstone
H method Wheatstone
Op Amps inverting mode gainH Op Amps AH method Op Amps A

Op amps
Op Amps bandwidthH Op Amps BH method Op Amps B
Half value thicknessH Half Value Thickness 2020Might not be suitable for coverage but in old H
Exoplanets AH Exoplanet A
H method Exoplanet A
Exoplanet BH Exoplanet BH method Exoplanet B
WHY NOT SHAREANY SHEETS
Finding wavelength from diffraction grating
Finding the wavelength of microwaves by standing waves
Signature

Sept 2023


“The experiments detailed in the course specification can be used for assignments. Centres are obviously free to choose other experiments if they wish, as long as they’re commensurate with the level. One of the advantages of using the experiments in the course is that you can be sure that the physics is accessible and at the correct level.

In the past, we saw some examples where centres had used rotational motion experiments with N5 candidates, and you could tell that the candidates had no clue what they were doing. It’s also been obvious at National 5 level that some centres are still using kits they had for Standard Grade investigations, which is fine, but you do need to make sure that the underlying physics is accessible. To give an example, solar cells was always a popular topic for Standard Grade and we see centres using them for National 5, but explaining how a solar cell produces a potential difference is something N5 candidates will probably struggle with (Higher candidates do when we ask them in the exam).

Higher, of course has the alternative two experiment route, which is quite popular especially with topics such as internal resistance where they can do the two experimental variations.

Your colleagues may wish to have a look at the Physics pages on the Understanding Standards website:

SQA – Understanding Standards: Introduction (Nat 5)

SQA – Understanding Standards: Introduction (Higher)

where they will see several exemplars based on the experiments detailed in the course specification.

If you have things that have worked well in the past, then it’s worth remembering that nothing has changed in any of the coursework requirements, and therefore they should still work in the same way.”

SQA Brilliant Person

This summary is based on the updated information from the SQA. The first two links are for the candidate guide which is produced by the SQA and contains the information that students can access. This can be taken into the reporting stage of your assignment. It is important to check off what you have done at the end of your assignment with the marking instructions. Prior to this it would be a good idea to have gone through the Practical Skills Booklet.

The link below takes you to the full information document which is produced by the SQA. It is a current document. This cannot be taken into the Reporting stage of your assignment, although the document above can.

SQA Higher Physics Assignment.pdf

HigherCATPhysics

Here is the powerpoint Martyn and I produced for the IOP on Assignments

This assignment is worth 20 marks, contributing 20% to the overall marks for the course assessment. t applies to the assignment for Higher Physics.

SectionDescriptionMark
Title and structureAn informative title and a structure that can easily be followed.1
AimA description of the purpose of your investigation.1
Underlying physicsA description of the physics relevant to your aim, which shows your understanding.3
Data collection and handlingA brief description of an approach used to collect experimental data.1
Sufficient raw data from your experiment.1
Data from your experiment, including any mean and/or other derived values, presented in a table with headings and units.1
Numerical or graphical data relevant to your experiment obtained from an internet/literature source, or raw data relevant to your aim obtained from your second experiment.1
A citation for an internet/literature source and the reference listed later in the report.1
Graphical presentationThe axes have suitable scales.1
Suitable labels and units on the axes.1
All data points plotted accurately and, where appropriate, line or curve of best fit drawn.1
UncertaintiesScale reading uncertainties shown for all measurements and random uncertainty in measurements calculated.2
AnalysisAnalysis Discussion of experimental data.1
ConclusionA conclusion relating to your aim based on all the data in your report.1
EvaluationThree evaluative statements supported by justifications.3
Total20

Signature

Sept 2023

Completing Practical Work

Before you complete your assignment you’ll need to be familiar with how to complete a practical and write up. CLICK ON THE DOWNLOAD button to download a Guide to the Practical Skills Booklet. Hopefully it will be useful to everyone doing HIGHER ASSIGNMENTS.

Many think this has too much on Excel but it can be removed from the word document if you are going to hand plot your graph.

I’d be grateful for feedback on this document and how it can be improved. Thanks.

My thanks to my colleagues at Dumfries High School, Mr Belford and Mr Viola for allowing me to add this flipchart which I have converted into a pdf file (hence the apparent pages of not many changes- it works well on a flipchart) for you to see how to go about an assignment.

Sept 2023

Special Relativity & Web-based Research

Communicating Scientific Results

Here is a chance for you to practice some of the skills required for your Investigation. This task gives you some practice to help with your Researching Physics topic. It is to help you look at ways of communicating and think who you are communicating to.Log all the work that you do for this section in your Researching Physics Log Book.

Objective

You will look at the various ways in which findings can be presented, and appreciate the possibility of using other media such as video clips, articles, papers, posters etc.

Learning outcome

You will be more informed about the different ways in which one topic can be presented. You will begin to think about how to present your own work.

Learning activity

You can work independently or in groups. There are three different resources:

  1. A video clip entitled ‘Two postulates’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdfnRWGgbd0).

    If you can’t read the file above it has been uploaded here as an MP4 file.

  2. A physicsworld article entitled ‘Slowed Light Breaks Record’

PHYSICS WORLD ARTICLE DECEMBER 2009

3. The paper

‘On Velocities Beyond the Speed of Light c’ (On Velocities beyond the speed of light c.pdf) On Velocities beyond the Speed of Light

You should examine and discuss the three resources. Teachers should point out that even though the physics content may not all be at the students’ level of understanding, it is still possible to take information from it with their level of knowledge. This is emphasised by you completing the work below.

‘Two Postulates’

This clip discusses how to tell if an object is moving or not by way of an animation.

‘Slowed Light Breaks Record’

This is an article published in physicsworld in December 2009. It is not particularly long, although does contain a lot of information.

‘On Velocities Beyond the Speed of Light c’

This paper was published in 1998 from CERN. It has the more traditional scientific report structure and is a good example for you.

After completing the table on the sheet, you should find that all boxes are ticked – highlighting that even though the information is presented in different ways, all the resources contain what the students will have to put into their own reports.

There are many ways to present scientific findings. You might have written a report in the past but universities may ask you to present a poster of your work.

Here we will look at three different ways of presenting findings on special relativity.

On your own or in groups/pairs, have a look at the three examples of how findings on special relativity have been presented.

Copy and complete the table, either with a few notes or a tick or cross, to show if the example meets the criteria.

‘Two Postulates’ ‘Slowed Light Breaks Record’ ‘On Velocities Beyond the Speed of Light’
Is there mention of the objective for the investigation/experiment?
Is there information given on the experiment/s conducted?
Is there mention of the data (perhaps not all) and any analysis of the findings?
Does the article discuss the conclusion for the experiment/investigation?

Now you have looked at the three examples, ask yourself the following questions.

First impressions
  1. Was one resource more eye-catching than the others?
  2. Does one look like it will be easier to read/understand than the others?
  3. Which one looks most credible?
Down to the nitty gritty
  1. Which resource was the most interesting?
  2. Which one was the best presented?
  3. Which gave the most information?
  4. Did you need to understand everything mentioned to gain an understanding of the experiment?

Which format might you consider for your Communicating Physics investigation?

More information on Web-Based Research

Web-Based Research HApr16 A powerpoint presentation showing how to help you find viable websites

Web-Based Research Student Materials Some materials to give you advice on using websites.

Physics Web-Based Research Worksheets Material that you can work through to give you practice at completing web-based tasks.

 

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