What is the most effective way to ensure that your pupils really understand key economic principles?

 

This resource contains a selection of around 200 questions on microeconomics which will force your students to think, consider and then think again, the kind of mental exercise that helps to ensure that knowledge and understanding are retained for exam purposes and beyond.

There are 13 sets of explained true/ false questions which are designed to secure and strengthen an excellent understanding of key principles in economics. In doing so, many of the questions asked have been set with a clear aim of stretching and challenging students to deliver A and A* grades in their final examinations. A further objective is also to develop the skills needed to tackle multiple choice question papers set by the AQA and Edexcel examining boards. This is achieved by prompting students to interrogate every word in the question. Many of these questions turn on a single phrase or word.

Model answers are provided, which allows students to mark their own papers, if required, again making best use of teachers’ time. They also provide students with a permanent feedback record, which will prove invaluable during their final examination preparation period.

Each of the test papers covers an area of the syllabus which may be set on a weekly basis as a topic test. They can also be used very effectively as a researched homework activity.

However, these materials will work equally well as a revision tool in the second term by helping keep students’ knowledge of micro-economics fresh once the teacher has moved on to macro-economics. This will be particularly important to many teachers now that January modular exams at A level have ended. Indeed, teachers will notice that some questions contain a synoptic element for precisely this reason.

Microeconomics Assessment Tests for AS, A2, and IB provides an invaluable resource for busy teachers of AS, A2, IB and even first year university students of economics.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/economics/T1824

ISBN: 978 1 86083 871 2; Order code: T1824emn

The volume is available as…

  • Photocopiable book, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Both the book and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book or CD…

What is the most effective way of helping students come to terms with the key issues in psychology?

The answer to the question is simple: for the students to undertake activities relating to the topics that they are studying. Topics which they may have touched on in everyday life, but which they have never considered in terms of academic study.

Through such activities the students can engage in independent learning, develop their application skills and evaluation skills, and judge their own progress using the success criteria linked to examiner comments and the skills needed at each level.

Seven separate areas are covered within this resource: Social Influence, Memory, Attachments, Research Methods, Approaches in Psychology, Biopsychology, and Psychopathology

By way of example, the memory section of the resource starts with a sorting activity so that the students can clarify the difference between the multi-store model of memory and the working model of memory.  This is followed by a number of tasks to reinforce understanding of long-term memory types by relating them to real life examples.   And finally there is a section with activities on types of forgetting, looking at factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and analysing and assessing cognitive interview techniques.

A similar level of depth is covered through each of the other topics.

There are sample pages at  http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/authordownloadsamples/T1839sample.pdf

AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level is published as a download so that you can immediately receive a copy onto your computer, from which you can print out pages for colleagues and students as often as you want.  You can also put it on your school learning platform so all staff can access the document – and indeed you can make it part of the induction documentation for new members of staff.

You can obtain AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level by going to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=73&products_id=787

The price is £12 plus VAT (the VAT can be reclaimed in most cases by the school).

AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level is published by First and Best in Education, part of the Hamilton House group.  If you have any enquiries you can call 01536 399 011, or email sales@firstandbest.co.uk or write to us at First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.

The full range of First and Best books can be seen at www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk

First and Best in Education
Earlstrees Road
Corby
UK
NN17 4HH

Website: www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk
Email: sales@firstandbest.co.uk

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Where can I find the national bank of assessment questions for Literacy?

It was perhaps a little strange that the Final Report of the Commission on Assessment Without Levels asked for something that was already there when it recommended the creation of a “national item bank of assessment questions.”

But such things happen, and Testbase, developed by teachers to provide schools with valid and reliable resources to rise to the challenge set by the Commission, is certainly available.

All the content is from National Curriculum tests in Literacy (end of key stage, optionals, and DfE samples) categorised according to the new National Curriculum objectives.

Additional material has been developed by National Curriculum Test Developers. As for the software, that has been developed and evolved to meet the exact requirements of the teachers who use it.

As a result you can create tailor-made assessments that can be used formatively or summatively, print ready-made assessments, prepare pupils for test conditions, use Testbase for guided reading, meet Ofsted and DfE requirements, and centralise your school’s assessments through the online library.

In the in-school formative assessment you can search for questions covering the topic or skill you are teaching, and filter by level of demand.​

For the end of topic and termly assessments you can search for questions covering the topic or skill, drag selected questions into a new document, and then save that document to a library to share with colleagues.

While for the end of year assessments you can obtain detailed feedback on progress with high quality printed tests, create diagnostic and comparative reports, and review year on year progress.

In total, Testbase provides online access to over 7,500 KS1–KS3 test questions, mark schemes and examiner comments. The questions come from SATs papers from 1995 to 2015 and are mapped to NC2014. DfE sample tests are also included.

There is more information on our website.

To order Testbase please

The benefits of recording lessons are plain to see. But are there any legal complications?

The arrival of the Lessonbox system through which teachers can record, both in pictures and sound, all that happens in a lesson has meant that many more lessons can be recorded than ever before.

Indeed the recording of these lessons so that teachers may observe best practice and study in depth their own teaching process is clearly a very, very helpful process. To all intents and purposes it offers the biggest breakthrough ever in continuing professional development.

Many schools are now moving over to this unique system, which is described in full on our website, and the benefits to CPD are, of course, overwhelming.

However, it is a legitimate question to ask where the school stands in relation to this sort of recording – which is done entirely to help develop the quality of teaching and learning – in terms of laws relating to the recording of the activities of young people.

To understand the situation more fully Lessonbox has met and taken guidance from the ICO on the data protection issues raised with the use of Lessonbox systems.

In summary the ICO recognises the positive applications of Lessonbox under the teacher’s control for the purpose of training, reflective practice, etc.  It accepts that there is a place for teachers to use Lessonbox to support their continuing professional development, and they acknowledge that teachers will find it useful to look back at lessons as part of their reflective practice.

Restrictions on use only relate to situations in which Lessonbox is set up to be an equivalent of a CCTV surveillance device – when obviously separate rules apply.

Lessonbox can be used as part of the school’s approach to addressing problem behaviour and low level disruption, as long as the use is proportionate.  Details of all the ICO’s findings and views on using Lessonbox both to record lessons and for disciplinary and other purposes can be found on our website.

Lessonbox uses wireless technology to record multiple lessons, and once recording is complete you have the choice of saving and reviewing the footage in school or, if subscribed, using the Lessonbox Cloud video platform to share, add comments, and attach related documents.

What’s more, because the recording equipment is portable it can be used by any teacher in any room or building, and there’s nothing to stop it being used to record a number of lessons by different teachers each day.

If you would like to download the ICO and Policy white papers or to discuss how Lessonbox can work in your school, please visit our website or call 0845 519 3660. If you have any specific questions, please do email info@lessonbox.co.uk

Andrew Jenkins