A Level Biology – OCR – 5 Days: OCR, AS/A Level Biology

Example Timetable

The following is an example of how a 5-day course might look. Our courses are as flexible as possible to meet your requirements, with other topics and skills able to be substituted into this timetable. There will be some variation between what is offered at specific centres due to habitat availability.

Day 1

Arrive Midday 
Welcome by FSC staff, centre tour and introduction, pre-course meeting of FSC staff and teachers, allocation of wellies and waterproofs as appropriate.

Afternoon and evening - Immersion in Ecology 
A half day introductory session which is used to immerse, engage and inspire students in ecological skills and environments. Current ecological ‘hot topics’ and synoptic links are introduced, and students are challenged to question the world around them.

Day 2

Biodiversity (including PAG 3.1) 
Students will use random sampling to compare two habitats, calculate species diversity and investigate variation within a species using Student’s t-test. This could be done in various habitats, including rocky shore, woodland, heathland or moorland depending on the centre visited.

Day 3

Succession (including PAG 3.2) 
A full day session investigating succession using systematic sampling. Students will measure abundance and distribution of species and analyse the data using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Day 4

Ecological Energetics  
An investigation looking at energy flow and the efficiency of energy transfer within an ecosystem, either in freshwater or on the rocky shore, depending on the centre. Data will be analysed using a chi-squared test. This session can also incorporate PAG 11 using choice chambers to study innate behaviours in organisms.

Day 5

Investigative Skills (PAG 3.3. and PAG 12) 
This session allows students to hone the skills they have learnt throughout the course to plan, justify and carry out their own ecological investigation. They will collect, process and analyse their own data, and research and reference their findings.

Depart Midday 

How this course fulfils the specification

OCR A: Detailed coverage of ecological content from sections 2.1 and 2.2 of Module 4, and 3.1 and 3.2 of Module 6, with opportunities to make synoptic links to other topics such as photosynthesis and transport in plants.

OCR B: Detailed coverage of ecological content from section 1.3 of Module 3, and sections 3.1 and 3.2 of Module 4, with opportunities to make synoptic links to other topics such as transport systems in plants.

Practical Endorsement

Our courses will include PAG 3 and can also incorporate activities from PAGs 6, 11 and 12.

There will be multiple opportunities to assess all five CPAC through the completion of practical activities during the course, including those that require demonstration of independence and some degree of choice (e.g., CPAC 2).

Students will be encouraged to use IT for data collection and analysis, and to carry out referenced research (CPAC 5). Students will undertake risk assessment for all environments visited and techniques used (CPAC 3).

Practical Skills, Apparatus and Techniques

The ‘hands on’ nature of our courses provide multiple opportunities for students to apply the practical skills on which they will be assessed, and develop and demonstrate their use of apparatus and techniques including a, e, h, k, and l.

These skills will be integrated and contextualised within the topics and ecological investigations undertaken.

Maths and Statistical Skills

Our courses include a wide range of applied maths and graphical skills and, depending on the topics covered, can cover the following statistical tests: Student’s t-test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and the chi-squared test. Students can also calculate Simpson’s index of diversity using their own data.

Develop skills

• Communication | Resilience | Independent thinking | Leadership
• Numeracy | Literacy | Investigative skills | Observation

Enhance Knowledge

• Ask questions.
• Apply knowledge in the real world and make links.
• Make sense of new places and understand our place and role within this.

Enjoy

• Have fun | Make friendships | Connect with nature