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Secondary education

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Original poster

1000 word essay for y9 triple science student

51 replies

Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 14:22

A young girl I know is just in year 9 and has started her GCSE study (still do 3 years study here). Her homework is a 1000 word essay on one of a number of subjects. She's chosen the one on vaccines.

She is struggling for a number of reasons including some SEN which means she struggles with writing stamina (that is a different issue).

Is this a usual task for science GCSE's? I thought the assessment for all 3 sciences are question based and not essay based so can't see how this helps her study....

My son is at another school and also doing triple science and has nothing like this as homework.

-- she will do the task. Parents have tried to help but there is the usual resistance to parental support....she's said she will let me try tomorrow. I just feel this is a lot of unnecessary stress and worry for a child who already struggles with school work and she won't accept handing in something she hasn't given 100% to.

OP posts:
RedskyThisNight · 08/10/2021 14:34

She won't have to do anything like that as part of the actual GCSE exams.

My DC have been given open ended tasks on science subjects to find out and write about a particular subject, but they've never had a word count specified. I imagine a lot of Year 9 children (including those without SEN) would find writing 1000 words on a particular topic quite hard work, so it does sound like quite a difficult task. How long does she have to do it (if it was a project over, say, half a term, I could perhaps understand it more)?

Comefromaway · 08/10/2021 14:40

That sounds incredibly difficult.

Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 14:46

@redskythisnight

The other group who do combined science have the same task, 500 words and had 4 weeks.

Triple science have been given 2 weeks.....although mum has got an extension as she couldn't manage it in time.

@comefromaway I know....much more a level or undergraduate length of writing. Especially with kids that don't have the writing stamina because of the covid lockdowns.

OP posts:
SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 08/10/2021 19:09

It may be that schools done it to check how the triple science students are doing and see whether any need to move to combined? I wouldn’t assume they’re expecting it to be perfect or brilliant but maybe to give an indicator, and also to provide a review opportunity in lesson to discuss how they did it, what worked what didn’t etc.

If they had weeks to do it (2 or 4) writing stamina shouldn’t have come into it though.

Orangejuicemarathoner · 08/10/2021 19:10

Its a perfectly reasonable task for GCSE science, why would you even ask?

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 08/10/2021 19:12

If she needs help start with structure:
150 words intro
150 words history
200 words positives of vaccines
200 words arguments against
150 words case study
150 words closing - future of vaccines

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 08/10/2021 19:13

I keep hitting send too early!! Have a look at This Podcast Will Kill You - great episodes on vaccines and perfectly understandable for a Y9

RedskyThisNight · 08/10/2021 19:53

Part of the issue is that it becomes less of a science task and more of an analytical writing task. DD (who hates science but is great at subjects like history and English lit) would love this task. DS (who likes science but loathes writing) would find it really difficult.

Comefromaway · 08/10/2021 19:58

@Orangejuicemarathoner

Its a perfectly reasonable task for GCSE science, why would you even ask?
Really? Essays are absolutely not required for GCSE science and a year 9 at the very start of the course would have no frame of reference
Comefromaway · 08/10/2021 19:59

@RedskyThisNight

Part of the issue is that it becomes less of a science task and more of an analytical writing task. DD (who hates science but is great at subjects like history and English lit) would love this task. DS (who likes science but loathes writing) would find it really difficult.
I have a dd and a Ds the same.
Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 20:06

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot that's so helpful. Thank you. I will look up the podcast too. (I don't think understanding the issues are her challenge...she's a bright girl....it's as soon as she told to write she knows it will be a problem and freaks out. I'm hoping we can find a different way to capture her voice....speech to text software might help....but your bite size chunks make it less scary).

OP posts:
Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 20:08

@orangejuicemarathoner there is no requirement in the syllabus to write essays. She and her parents picked a set of GCSE'S where she wouldn't be overwhelmed with essays....science (any of the 3 subjects) shouldn't be a big essay writing subject unlike say History or English.

OP posts:
Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 20:09

@comefromaway and @redskyatnight thanks for the understanding.

OP posts:
LittleBearPad · 08/10/2021 20:10

1000 words isn’t that difficult if you break it down as above.

dephlogisticated · 08/10/2021 20:18

The longest question on her GCSE paper is likely to be a 6 mark question requiring around 6 sentences- that's the longest! On that basis this is not something most science teachers would ask of a Year 9 student at the start of their course. Arguably it isn't particularly good as direct exam prep although there may be broader benefits. It would be sad if it put her off at this stage.

itsasmallworldafterall · 08/10/2021 20:46

I agree it's not the norm at all, however there's a dictate function in the office app for my phone, it's very easy to use, you can then use save it to OneDrive to tidy it up later on a laptop or PC.

Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 20:47

@LittleBearPad maybe not for you and I but I remember getting to uni and being a little daunted by word count.....the longest essay I'd done before was my extended essay at A level English which we had ages to write.

At 13 1000 words does sound very scary.

OP posts:
SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 08/10/2021 21:13

Could also be that school have identified extended writing as a weakness across the year group and also are asking all subjects to pitch in with opportunities to develop, I have a vague memory of a school where I was governor doing something similar.

Text to speech software can be excellent. If she has an iPhone/iPad you can do it through the notes app…would need some formatting but it could be a good practice option.

Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 08/10/2021 21:42

She has an iPhone so that's a good tip. I know how to do similar on my MS laptop.

OP posts:
peewitsandy · 08/10/2021 22:40

Crikey what an ask for a year 9 pupil !

Sometimes, perhaps you could suggest a 13 year old should be able to write a concise 'Precis' and at the end of the essay a comprehensive reference list, using the correct protocol's expected of the Harvard Referencing System !

Original poster
Mumdiva99 · 09/10/2021 07:33

@peewitsandy there are marks for referencing!!!

OP posts:
BikeRunSki · 09/10/2021 07:39

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot

If she needs help start with structure: 150 words intro 150 words history 200 words positives of vaccines 200 words arguments against 150 words case study 150 words closing - future of vaccines
This

She needs to stop thinking of it as 1 huge task, and think of it as several smaller ones.

DigOlBick · 09/10/2021 07:47

That’s only 2 pages. I definitely remember writing essays in triple science.

user1471530109 · 09/10/2021 07:47

I would never normally slate another teachers homework task, but that is horrendous! I'm the head of science and have been for around 5-6 years now (so all through the current syllabus). If extended writing is an issue is their analysis of past years performance, then build in regular 6 mark questions as part of their lesson tasks and homework.

OP, the suggestion of breaking into small sections listed above is great. Get her to write each 150 word section as a task for each day. Most students her age could do a 150 word task without too much angst. She will not be thrown off the course based on this task. If that's a possibility, raise hell Wink. If she has shown willing to attempt the task and done her best, that is all that matters. Cake for her.

LegoClone · 09/10/2021 08:14

I teach science GCSE (both separate science GCSEs and combined) and I'm an exam marker (15+ years experience teaching and 5+ years marking).

I am trying and failing to find a positive reason for the task you've described being set and would be very dubious about the quality of the education provided by an institution who considered this to be a useful activity for a student of this age at this stage in the course.

The longest written answer GCSE students need to provide is for the 6 mark questions and the technique to write good answers to these questions is not going to be learnt through producing 1000 word essays.

The required content on vaccines is quite specific and is highly unlikely to be learnt by a student trying to write 1000 words on the topic.

Being well read in science, so being exposed to ideas around but outside of the specification details, is very useful for students but this can be achieved much more effectively by directed reading tasks with well designed questions and class discussion.

1000 word essays set as homework feels like "busy work" set by teachers more concerned about appearances than anything else. Hmm