Project element

Projects are the centre piece of the course. They give students the opportunity to engage deeply with a question or problem in an area of interest through an extended enquiry, which ideally will help them think about a future career path. The project element of the course is designed to last approximately 40 hours per year.

Students choose from three main types of enquiries, that replicate how scientists and engineers work.

  • Investigation: a science-based experimental enquiry, working through the process of questioning, literature search, hypothesising, experiment design, data collection, analysis and evaluation
  • Design: creating a design or prototype to solve an problem, working through the process of problem definition, research, solution, prototype development, testing and evaluation, and iteration.
  • Research: a desk-based enquiry into a socio-scientific issue of personal, local or global interest, working the process of questioning, literature search, analysis and synthesis, and developing an argument.

Projects for HPQ and EPQ

HPQ does not distinguish between the three kinds of projects, and all meets the requirements of HPQ, giving students access to high grade. In fact, the collection of primary data in an Investigation or Design project is only required for EPQ.

EPQ does distinguish between different kinds of projects, and we aligned the three types with three of the project pathways set out in the EPQ specification:

  • An Investigation project corresponds to the EPQ unit 2 'Investigation/Field Study' pathway
  • A Design project corresponds to the EPQ unit 4 'Design' pathway
  • A Research project corresponds to the EPQ unit 1 'Research pathway

Projects approach

A positive experience of project work is essential if it is to increase students’ interest in studying science post-16.

For Project Science we developed an approach based on our authentic mastery, which has three key features:

1) Ready-to-go guided projects: we are creating a set of project ideas, supported by curriculum resources to structure and scaffold the project

2) Interest themes: the starting points of our project resources are themes known to interest students, to ensure students’ motivation

3) Guided and independent versions: each project comes in a guided version for year 10 students, and an independent version for year 11 students.

1) Ready-to-go projects:

This is why we are developing a set of ready-to-go projects to make sure that students have a positive experience of doing a project, and to make it easier for teachers to implement the course, and reduce their workload.

It may be straightforward for students come up with a project idea for a Research (desk-based) project on an issue of interest. But it’s harder for them to do it for an Investigation or Design project. A scientific question might be too hard because of the theory involved, or the practicality of the experiment. A design problem may not be solvable because of the equipment or skills needed to make a prototype. To prevent students having a frustrating experience, our ready-to-go projects have been tried and tested.

Teachers who are experienced in project-based learning could come up with possible projects. Our project resources are designed to help less experienced project teachers, and to reduce workload.

2) Interest themes

It is ideal if students can choose a project in an area of existing interest. To make this possible, we explored science-related themes known to engage teenagers’ interests, and which have proved popular in Mastery Science’s existing resources:

  • Sports
  • Space
  • Climate
  • Food 
  • Well-being
  • Genetics t
  • Disasters 
  • Technology
  • Environment

In each theme, we have identified at Investigation, Design or Research projects, that are likely to be exciting, and practical within the constraints of the classroom and time available. The resources will be published on the Mastery Science website.

3) Guided and independent versions

Since the course is aimed at students two levels of Project Qualification - Level 2 HPQ, and Level 3 EPQ, each project can be re two levels of projects

Our Authentic Mastery approach, based on apprenticeship suggests that students start with more structure and guidance, and then take on more of the project decisions independently. project. Therefore, each of our project resources comes in two versions,

  • Guided version: for Year 10 students or less confident Year 11 students
  • Independent version: for Year 11 students

Features of the guided version:

  • the project is targeted at HPQ/FPQ requirements
  • it follows the 5-step process, with help sheets for each stage
  • includes options for students to work in groups

Features of the independent version:

  • the project is targeted at both HPQ and EPQ requirements
  • it gives students more autonomy to conduct sophisticated enquiries
  • does not include group working options as EPQ requires independence