School-Based Assessment (SBA): P&D, M&M and Drw
Joanna George-Johnson, Contributor

It is important to know what is expected in your School-Based Assessment (SBA) for the various ways it is being assessed.

SBAs are graded for several criteria.

1) Observation, recording and reporting (ORR)

2) Analysis and Interpretation (A&I)

3) Planning and designing (P&D)

4) Manipulation and Measurement (M&M)

5) Drawing (Drw.)

Assessing for Drawing

1. Clarity: Should be clean with distinct continuous lines. Reasonable size and no shading

2. Accuracy: Should be a faithful representative of the specimen. In the right proportions.

3. Labelling: Neatly written with neat label lines, all in pencil. No arrow heads on lines. Must be spelt correctly and in the correct position. Do not underline your labels. The labels should also be in all capital letters or all common letters, not a mixture of both.

4. Title: Must include the view/ orientation. Must be in capital letters under the drawing.

5. Magnification: To one decimal place only. Or simple fractions.

Magnification should be calculated in the following way:

Tips for Drawing Labs

• Drawings must be on plain paper.
  
  
• Do not make an extremely small drawing. Use up the space on the paper provided.
  
  
• For neatness, place a simple line border around the paper.
  
  
• Most students tend to make the mistake of putting the drawing at the centre of the paper. The problem with that is they tend to have very little space for the labels.
  
  
• Place the drawing to the left of the paper instead of dead centre. This will leave adequate space to the right for the labels to go.
  
  
• Never cross label lines. Write all labels horizontally.
  
  
• Do very little erasing. No erasing is better. This can make your drawing messy and you will surely lose marks. So if you must erase get a very clean eraser.
  
  
• Use a very sharp pencil. If it gets dull while drawing, stop and sharpen it again.
  
  
• To illustrate darker areas on a specimen, use stippling or dots. Do not shade in any area of your drawing.
  
  
• Do not use sketch marks on your drawing. Simple, sharp continuous lines should be used.

Criteria for assessing M&M

This is assessed in the lab while you are carrying out the experiment.

1. Marks are given or deducted according to how well you handle the laboratory equipment. How you hold the test tube when heating, the way in which you transfer solutions from one container to a next, or your manipulation of the microscope are just a few of the things that may be assessed under this criterion.

2. Also your accuracy and precision of measuring is also assessed as well under this criterion for SBA. For example, when measuring the volume of a solution in a measuring cylinder; if you are not going eye level to read the volume or holding up the cylinder in your hands to measure, then marks will be deducted.

Criteria for assessing P&D

1. These types of SBAs are not usually done in the lab. Here you are asked to plan and design an experiment to investigate an observation that you will be given. For example, one may observe that a particular potted plant when placed outside in the sun becomes droopy quite quickly. However, when kept indoors it does not become droopy. You will now be expected to design an experiment to determine whether temperature has an effect on whether or not a plant wilts.

2. Many students tend to have major difficulty with this type of SBA. The reason for this is that students have to become very creative. Here are some tips to help with planning and designing an experiment:

• Be sure to understand what your experiment should be about.
  
  
• Read background information on the topic to know how to plan your experiment.
  
  
• Create a suitable hypothesis
  
  
• Then design a simple but effective experiment. Keep in mind that the larger sample size you use the better the result of the experiment will be. Do not use any irrelevant materials in your design.
  
  
• Make certain that your experiment is fair. Where possible, always use a control in your experiment. (i.e. an experimental setup that is exactly like the 'test' setup but instead of manipulating one factor all the factors remain the same for the duration of the experiment). It could also be a part of the setup that has no active reagents such as a setup with only water.
  
  
• The control is necessary so that any change in your experiment can be attributed to your manipulation of a particular factor and nothing else, as long as there is no change in the control setup.
  
  
• Make sure to include your limitations and sources of errors.
  
  
• Identify the variables.
  
  
• Show how you would present your results if you had carried out the experiment.

Question

1. Using CXC drawing guidelines make a labelled drawing of a dicotyledonous leaf.

Joanna George-Johnson teaches at Ardenne High School.
Email: Masterbio@gmail.com.