SL Basic Scheme of Work
This page is all about how we might fit the new syllabus in to 150 hours! There is certainly a considerable amount of new material in the applications course as compared to the current Mathematical Studies course and a definite increase in the demands that are placed on students and teachers. This is all part of the drive to raise the profile and status of the course so that it will be accepted by universities. In any case, there is lots to read about the New Syllabus (follow the link). Here I am going to offer some first thoughts about a scheme of work and and example.Options
The design and elements of the course actually allow for a good deal of creativity in designing a course. For that reason, I can see a number of useful schemes of work where teachers vary according to...
- What order is necessary? What can change?
- When will I do the Internal Assessment? What has to come first?
- Which parts of different units might go well together? Where do concepts overlap?
This is exciting and I certainly expect to see a good deal of variety over time. The course is new, with a new name and a new structure and the next curriculum review is likely just to be fine tuning. That means that we will have at least 14/15 years of this course (and probably more). For that reason, I am happy to take some time to think about combinations. In the first instance then, I am going to develop a scheme of work that follows the guide (mostly!) that can be easily adopted AND adapted by teachers everywhere. I think it is a useful place to start and probably essential for understanding how things might actually fit in the time frame.
Assessments and review - The guide does not obviously take in to account the need for periods of assessment and review. I have built these in, which does put a (realistic) pressure on the 150 hours. I know many schools actually get a little more than this which would give you some flexibility, but many don't.
The Toolkit - This 30 hours is there to help us find the time to deliver the core philosophy of the course and, importantly, the Internal Assessment. I have taken little parts of it and weaved it in to the different units.
The scheme outline
The week by week, lesson by lesson details are available on each of the links. Where they link to existing resources, I have put links. As the scheme develops on the new website it will be come a fully resourced scheme of work.
Number & Algebra - 16 Hours + 5 hours of toolkit - 21 hours
Functions - 31 Hours + 5 hours of toolkit - 36 Hours Split in to 2 units
Statistics and Probability - 36 Hours + 6 hours of toolkit - 42 hours, Split in to 2 units
The Internal Assessment - 12 Hours
Geometry and Trigonometry - 18 Hours
Calculus - 19 Hours + 2 hours of toolkit - 21 hours
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