Physics

Departmental Support
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added: 25/10/2010
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description: This document gives details of support available for pupils from this department.
Departmental Information

Aims

Physics plays a part in everybody’s life.  The aim of Standard Grade Physics is to give students an understanding of the physics behind everyday life and to inspire pupils to find out more about how things work.  Standard Grade also introduces problem solving skills and prepares them for further study in the subject.  Physics is a fascinating and rewarding subject and should be irresistible to those of an inquisitive nature.  Higher Grade Physics aims to foster an interest in modern developments in Physics and to encourage students to make critical and evaluative comments.  The course seeks to illustrate and emphasise situations where Physics is important in everyday life.

Content

The Standard Grade course is divided into the following sections :

  • Telecommunications
  • Using Electricity
  • Electronics
  • Health Physics
  • Transport
  • Energy
  • Space Physics

The Higher course is divided into the following sections:

  • Unit 1 – Mechanics and Properties of Matter
  • Unit 2 – Electricity and Electronics
  • Unit 3 – Radiation and Matter

An Advanced Higher course can also be offered.

Assessment

 Physics is available at Credit and General levels only.  There are three assessable elements

  • Knowledge & Understanding (KU) – external examination
  • Problem Solving (PS) – external examination
  • Practical Abilities (PA) – internal examination

For Practical Abilities, students carry out two investigations and write reports which are marked by the class teacher.  These are moderated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (The SQA check a sample of papers to ensure that grades are correct).

At Higher level each unit has an end-of-unit assessments.  Pass mark is 18/30.

Practical abilities is assessed by students designing an experiment, collecting data and writing a scientific report.  This is marked internally and is subject to moderation by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.  There is an external 2hours 30 minutes examination.

 Career Information

There are many careers in which Physics could be useful.  The obvious ones are physicist, astronomer, engineer, aircraft pilot, TV engineer etc.

However, because Physics is such a demanding subject, a qualification in Physics shows a potential employer that you are not frightened of hard work, that you can analyse problems and that you can come up with suitable solutions to problem situations.