Extended Project
Course Overview
This is a free standing qualification that carries UCAS points. The course offers students a unique opportunity to develop essential skills for higher education and the workplace, in a subject area of their own choice. The Extended Project gives students more control over their study than ever before. You have a free choice of project topic, so you can choose to explore a further aspect of a subject you’re studying, or another subject, or choose a topic in which you have a personal interest. This level of choice and flexibility means students are engaged and motivated and gain valuable research and project management skills along the way.
You have to:
- Choose a topic of your choice to study
- Complete a Production Log to document your project process
- Plan, research and write up their findings of your project
- Prepare and deliver a presentation on the outcome.
Entry Requirements:
Grade 4 in English Language.
You must have the required qualifications for the Advanced Pathway.
Assessment Objectives
This is an independent piece of research. You will meet with a member of staff (supervisor) weekly to discuss your progress and to guide you and help you develop the necessary skills to complete a successful project. You will also attend taught sessions which equip you with the key skills needed for primary research, project writing and independent study.
You can write a 5000 word essay arguing both sides of your research topic or you can create a product with a 1000 word report on the research that lead you to your end product.
The assessment covers both the process and the end product. The final project, plus the Production Log, will be assessed as a whole, according to a generic set of marking criteria. We’ll be looking at how well students identify and use resources, carry out research, develop their ideas to realise an outcome and then reflect on the outcome and the process.
Students complete a Production Log as they carry out their projects and at the end they must deliver a presentation which should be for a non-specialist audience. This could take the form of a group presentation (in the case of a group project) or a one-to-one presentation to the supervisor.
The presentation must be supported by a question and answer session which is recorded in the Production Log. The complete Production Log, a written report, the evidence and the presentation are assessed together by the centre at the end of the process.
How will I be assessed?
Independent piece of research
Is there anything else I should know?
This is an independent piece of work and will require students to manage their time effectively throughout the year. Students will be encouraged through self-motivation and independent study inside and outside of school.
Students will need to be confident within their area of study to evaluate, reflect, criticise and support their ideas using other pieces of research.
Examples of projects chosen include:
- Teenage pregnancy debate, who is to blame?
- Gender equality in the police
- Can women really be police officers?
- Is God real?
- Teach yourself the guitar – with a DVD and booklet
- A website designed around childhood obesity and how to deal with it
- Education through performing arts, focusing on
- underage drinking
- Domestic Violence and its effects on the family
- Tourism within Liverpool and has the regeneration of the area increased tourism?
- Design your own Skate park and create a miniature structure of the design using the key materials
- Is Rugby for girls?
- Design and create a Sixth Form magazine
Progression Routes
This is an independent piece of work and will require students to manage their time effectively throughout the year. Students might use the project at interview stage for higher education and/or in their Personal Statement on their UCAS form.