Cambridge Advanced Nationals in Applied Science: F182 (Investigating Science)

Can students have the same research question for F182 Investigating Science? 

Each student’s investigation needs to be individual and unique from the rest of the cohort. Students may choose to explore similar research questions but, for example, investigate different dependent variables or use distinct methodologies. This is indicated in the ‘Information for delivering tasks’ section of the assignment. 

Getting students to include a context, a trend to investigate or methodology in their research question is important, and this will help you quickly identify whether they have created a unique research question from other students. 

This blog is useful to refer to for further guidance for delivering F182.   

What do we need to do if our students’ results aren’t providing the variation/pattern expected? 

If your students have followed the process that aligns with a good scientific investigation, including having a prediction based on sound research and a valid method to test their prediction, it will not matter that your students are seeing less variation in the data or the pattern they were expecting. The use of a preliminary investigation to test the extremes of variables should enable an evaluation of the suitability of the method. 

Students need to ensure that they’ve collected and analysed the data correctly and based their conclusions on this data. It is also appropriate and good science in these cases to confirm the null hypothesis. 

Do we need to provide you with the presentation from Task 5 of Unit F182? 

No, you do not need to provide this. We have included it in the candidate style work to exemplify what it could look like, but we don’t need to see it. The teacher observation record form should be used as evidence of the presentation and the questions asked and responded to. This is indicated in the Assessment Guidance for F182.