4.Main Content
collections
OCR Gateway GCSE Science suite
Links below support the teaching of ‘How Science Works’ aspects of Gateway science specifications. Centre-assessed Units in Gateway comprise:
GCSE Science B
Unit 3 (B655): Can-do tasks; Report on science in the news
GCSE Additional Science B
Unit 4 (B656): Research study; Data task
GCSE Physics B
Either Unit 3 (B655) or Unit 4 (B655)
• In both the Report on science in the news and the Data task, students are expected to evaluate data in terms of its reliability and validity.
• In the Report on science in the news and the Research report, they are expected to appreciate that scientific ideas change over time and understand the role of the scientific community in validating these changes.
OCR itself offers teacher guidance for its internally assessed skills. It provides lists of what it calls ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘advanced’ Can-do tasks for students. It also provides a ‘Skills Assessment Support Booklet’, downloadable here.
Reliability and validity
- Radiation from black and shiny surfaces
- Simple electromagnet
- Investigating simple steel springs
- Measuring the radius of a marble
- Measuring paper
- Measuring the density of liquids
Scientific ideas change over time
- Galileo's pendulum
- Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity
- Oersted, electric current and magnetism
- William Herschel and the discovery of infra-red radiation
- QTC – the discovery of a novel material
Related Guidance
Updated 5 Sep 2008
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