This year students will be introduced to specialised scientific terms and units and will learn how to measure accurately, use laboratory equipment safely, manipulate equations to calculate values, interpret simple graphs and draw scientific diagrams.

They will have an opportunity to display data in tables, draw bar charts, pie charts and graphs and look for patterns and trends in data.

Students will be encouraged to make use of the school library facilities (including CD-ROM), the School Physics Extranet site and the World Wide Web when researching topics for homework.

The employment of ICT is an integral part of the course. Students will word process documents, handle images, devise spreadsheets to help them calculate derived data values and plot graphs using MS-Excel.

Assessment

At the end of each topic there is a test to make sure that the work has been understood and to show the type of questions on each topic likely to be asked in the summer examination. Students are given plenty of notice of the test date and homework time to revise for the test and the teacher advises how best to set about learning the work.

At the end of the year there is an examination that will examine how their skills at plotting graphs and drawing bar charts and interpreting data has developed during the year. This will be done within the context of the topics they have studied.

At points in the year the students will undergo an ‘APP’ assessment. This is in line with the recent curriculum changes and involves students carrying out an activity followed by the award of a level to a specific aspect of their practical or analytical skills.

Content

Autumn Term

• Space and the Solar System: This topic studies the Planets and Sun in our Solar System, focussing especially on the seasons and the phases of the Moon. Students become equipped to analyse data relating to this and to explain the phenomena we see in the sky.
• Forces: Students will begin a topic to study the forces around us.

Spring term

• Forces: Students will continue their forces topic studying concepts such as floating, magnetism, friction.
• Energy: Students investigate fuels, study different energy types and research different energy resources.
• Electricity: Students begin work to understand how an electric current transfers energy around a circuit.

Summer term

• Electricity: Work continues to understand how an electric current transfers energy in various circuits and the factors affecting current.
• Investigative Skills: Students will design and carry out an investigation into how a ball bounces. Their skills will be assessed at the end of this.

Personal Learning and Thinking Skills

At WGHS we are very aware of how our students think about their learning. The year 7 Physics course is designed to open as many opportunities as possible for the students to engage with their learning. We encourage all of the key thinking skills: self managing, independent enquiry, independent thinking, active participation, team participation and reflection on learning.

***************************