New GCE Science in Society – launch video
Transcript
AQA presents a new specification: GCE Science in Society.
Arts, humanities and science students will now be able to reflect on a wide range of scientific issues, learning to evaluate information and making informed decisions, encouraging scientific literacy, debating, independent research and other skills.
This new specification develops from our current AS Science for Public Understanding. We have also redesigned the AS to provide a coherent progression from the new GCSE Science course.
The content is divided into three strands: the issues; the science behind them, and what they tell us about science and society.
AS candidates will consider how science works and relevant explanations; studying the germ theory of disease, infection and the development of vaccines, tansport issues and its impact on local air quality and the global climate, exploring the ethical issues raised by the developing, testing and use of medicines, stem cells and cloning, reproductive choices, radiation, evolution and understanding the universe.
Their assessment at will be through a written paper with coursework based around research and reading.
One piece of work gives candidates the chance to explore topics and issues which appeal to them while the other encourages them to read from the literature of popular scientific writing
A2 candidates will learn about how the brain works; the way in which drugs can be used to alter brain function and issues raised by drug treatments. Other topics include understanding climate change and its importance as a contemporary policy problem, the worldwide demand for energy resources, emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, nature and nurture debates and sustaining the variety of life on Earth
Their assessment will be a two-hour written examination and another based on a case study of pre-release material from popular press and science magazines.
Key documents
