Clarification details
Updated February 2014. This clarification has been updated to address issues that have arisen from moderation.
The purpose of clarifications
We create clarification documents to help people understand the current requirements of achievement standards. Clarifications do not introduce new criteria, change the requirements of the standard, or change what we expect from assessment.
These documents unpack and explain the language and requirements of the standard so that people interpret and apply the standard consistently. We provide examples or guidance as illustrations only 鈥� they are not prescriptions or requirements.
For official requirements, always refer to the current version of the achievement standard as published by 色诱直播.
The intent
The intent is for students to analyse the accuracy, validity and bias of biological information in articles presented to the public from at least three different sources, identifying the purpose of the information and their impact on the intended audience.
Articles for analysis
Articles for analysis may be provided by the teacher, or selected by the student,in which case they must be approved by the teacher. Articles from a range of pieces of communication presented to the public may include advertisements, documentaries, newspaper articles, historical accounts or videos.
Context
Articles that give clear examples of accurate, inaccurate and biased information on biological features are required. Students need sufficient teaching and learning of the appropriate biological knowledge, in the context chosen, to support their understanding of the requirements of this Standard.
Identifying the purpose
鈥業dentifying the purpose鈥� means identifying who produced the information and the intended audience. 鈥楾he general public鈥� is too vague. Where the intended audience is not identified, the student should predict what this could be, e.g. in the context of using 1080 to control possums, the intended audience could be members of the public who have an interest in the conservation of NZ native wildlife.
At Achievement
At Achievement students must recognise and describe biological features in each of at least three articles, as well as identify them as accurate, inaccurate or biased using their biological knowledge. Recognising and describing this information from each article on its own is not evidence for achievement, e.g. 鈥淭he article gave the symptoms for鈥s鈥�, this correlated with the second article鈥�, which also gave the same symptoms.鈥�
At Merit
At Merit, giving reasons on how or why the biology of at least one article is accurate, inaccurate or biased must be supported by evidence of understanding at level 7 of the curriculum.
At Excellence, the overall findings from the analysis of at least one article are summarised and conclusions made about whether the article achieved its purpose, i.e. how well it informed its target audience.
At Excellence
- 鈥楶rioritising鈥� means giving reasons why some information is more important than others for aspects of information in relation to its significance in the context chosen, e.g. 鈥楩irstly, the most important information in this article is鈥ince鈥�. Secondly, the next piece of important information is鈥ecause鈥�.鈥�
- Evaluating the overall impact of an article is based on any bias and the balance of accurate and inaccurate information in the article.