blended science

[var123]

I am told that unless your child goes to school in the independent sector, its not possible to take a chemistry, physics or biology GSCE, but instead children sit either a single, double or triple blended "science GCSE".

Does anyone know what the thinking was behind that change?

It's not as bad as it sounds.

Back in O level days at my (top independent boarding) school I had to choose between O level Physics & Chemistry, or O Level biology.

Hence my learning of biology stopped at age 13 which is a bit ridiculous.

DD1 is in y11 at our local comp. She is doing double science GCSE. She will sit 6 papers in total, 2 in physics, 2 in chemistry, and 2 in biology. There is a lot of content in double science and they are taught the sciences separately. It is only in the final GCSE name that it is just 'science'.

Had she decided to do triple science, she would have had to sit 9 papers in total, the 6 my DD is doing, plus an extra one in each of the 3 sciences. This time though instead of averaging the paper1s together for the first grade, and paper2s for the second, they average the physics together, the chemistry together, and the biology together to end up with 3 separate GCSEs.

I honestly think it is better for GCSE for children to be taught 1/3 or 2/3 of 3 sciences rather than be allowed to drop one completely.

The impression I have from reading here is that most independent schools also do not permit children to 'just' do physics for example. (It makes time-tabling harder). So I think you have been a bit misinformed / have misunderstood.

The norm for any child doing triple science (so that will be practically all in the private sector, and quite a lot in the state sector) is to get separate GCSEs in Biology, Physics and Chemistry. So you are misinformed.

Any child that does not do triple science (including those in the private sector) does exactly what the pp outlined.

DS1 is at a state school and is studying for three separate iGCSE qualifications in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. 75% of his year group are doing the same.
The lowest attaining 25% are sitting a double award GCSE in Science.

There is no option to pick just two sciences and drop the third.

I think you have misunderstood this OP.
Triple Science GCSE is exactly the same course as 3 separate GCSEs in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and you will have one grade for Physics, one for Chemistry and one for Biology.
If your child takes Double Science there are 2 grades where the marks for the Core papers (usually taken in Y10) give the first grade and those for the Additional papers (taken in Y11) give the second grade.
This isn't a new system OP, it's been around since GCSEs were first introduced in the late 1980s. The reasoning behind it was that using this system would mean a better educated work force as children would have studied all 3 Sciences until the age of 16. It would also mean that more girls would study Physics up to GCSE (at my all girls school most girls only chose GCSE Biology) so that more girls could take Science A levels (whether this has actually happened in practice is debateable though).

I left school in 1984 hence my surprise at the changes. I did all 3 sciences -separately, of course - and went onto university to do more science. So, I am not against science per se, only treating it as one subject when really its many completely different things.

Really I was just thinking that you can be really strong at one and pretty weak at another, so it doesn't make sense to get an averaged score. It would be like getting an average in humanities.

However, I think I misunderstood that part, and they do get separately quoted?

Yes, they do get separately graded if you do triple.

my Dc are at a state school and the sciences are taught as 3 completely separate subjects from Y7 onwards

It does depend on the individual schools offering, we offer core and additional (which are blended science ) and triple ( which are the three seperate sciences)
However our best performing core and additional kids can also sit further additional, so they end up with three science GCSE's but all three are blended .

You have to study all three sciences. So if you do not want to take three GCSEs, then you need a Science GCSE that covers all three areas. IME, it is unusual for there to be a big discrepancy between the subjects.

var123 when really its many completely different things Or alternatively many related things? Which is why Cambridge only offer a Natural Sciences course with increasing specialisation, rather than the separate disciplines. A lot of the cutting edge research being done is not bound by the disciplinary boundaries of the Sciences, and indeed Maths, Computer Science, Software Development and Engineering. UCL recently hosted a conference for gaming software developers to seek ideas for handling the masses of data being generated by the research into our DNA, the reason that all those promises of medical advances have not materialised is not for want of research but ways of managing the mountains of data it generates. So a move to give pupils a grounding in all Sciences, instead of funnelling them down the paradigm of three separate disciplines would not be a bad thing, who knows? they may be the next biohackers? www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21615064-following-example-maker-communities-worldwide-hobbyists-keen-biology-have

-WARNING, attempt to convey clever science geek daughter's arguments by historian, may contain errors, but the gist is correct-

DD Did her GCSEs last year.
She has separate certificate lines for Chemistry, Biology and Physics.
Comp school.

Currently for science (gcses changing so this may not remain the same) gcses (not igcse) are split into 3 modules each. So gcse chemistry requires modules C1, C2 and C3. Physics P1,P2 and P3. Biology B1, B2 and B3.
Students taking core science sit C1,P1 and B1. Additional science C2, P2 and B2 and further additional science C3, P3 and B3.
So there is two ways of covering the same material and receiving 3 gcses, either gcses in Chemistry, Physics and Biology or gcses in core science, additional science and further additional science. The work and exams are the same, but how they combine the modules into each qualification is different.
The reason some schools choose the later option is that the exams can be taken over several years(core year 9, additional year 10, further year 11) rather than all 9 exams at the end of year 11 with the individual named sciences route.