Year Plan



Chinese YMCA Secondary School
Biology Year Plan 06-07

Major concerns of the school:

  1. Consolidating the Christian faith and living the Biblical principles
  2. Establishing accountability culture and developing self-appraisal systems
  3. Promoting a reading culture and nurturing the spirit of self-learning
  4. Enhancing classroom learning and catering for individual learning differences
  5. Strengthening language proficiency and ensuring a smooth transition to senior curriculum

Subject aims:

  1. To promote an interest in the study of living organisms and a respect for life;
  2. To develop an understanding of biological concepts and principles;
  3. To promote an awareness and appreciation of the significance of biological knowledge in personal, social, environmental and technological contexts;
  4. To promote an appreciation of the importance of experimental and investigative work in the study of Biology;
  5. To develop observational, manipulative, experimental and communicative skills;
  6. To develop an understanding of the scientific method and its application;
  7. To provide a worthwhile educational experience for students not intending to study Biology at a higher level; and
  8. To provide a suitable preparation for further studies in Biology and related disciplines.

Situational analysis:

Strengths:

  1. Students is interested in the subject matter as it is closely related to their daily lives
  2. Panel members are very hard working and co-operative. They are ready to work together and implement new policies to new situations.

Weaknesses:

  1. Under the pressure of academic attainment, it is hard for teachers to provide a balance between the curriculum and a pleasurable learning environment for students.
  2. Students are weak in high order thinking skills like analysis and integration of experimental data and factual knowledge in different areas of the subject.
  3. Some students are passive in learning and show strong reliance on teachers

Opportunities:
Both CMI and EMI streams are available to students in studying senior (S4-7) biology curriculum

Threats:
The academic performance of students in CE examination is still under-achieved, which will affect the confidence of both the teachers and students.

Major concerns for 06-07:

  1. Improve the academic performance of students in public examination (CE)
  2. To develop the self-learning skills of students in studying Biology

Implementation plan

Objectives

Implementation plan

Success Criteria

Evaluation

People Responsible

1

To ensure that the teaching progress are followed in all classes

Cover at least 90% of the contents stated in the schedule

Progress checking
(4 times per year)

SKC

1

According to the abilities of students, divide them into three separate classes, teachers would cater better for the needs of individual classes

Results (A-E% and A-C%) of public examination (HKCEE) should be better than the previous year.

Results of public examination
(both the CE and AL)

ALL

1

Drilling would still be the main strategy:

  1. Weekly practice on current topic would be provided to students to enable them to establish the learning habits of biology.
  2. Practice on CE-typed questions would be arranged to familiarize students with the requirement and style of public exam questions.

Objectives

Implementation plan

Success Criteria and
Evaluation

People Responsible

2
  1. Reinforce the concept of self-learning, students are required read before lessons and submit a set of questions (5 per week) which are related to the coming topic.
  2. More group discussions, presentations, debate etc. will be used in the classroom teaching so as to enhance studentsˇ¦ participation in learning.
  3. Students will be asked to prepare certain topics at home and present them during normal lessons. This trains the students to study more independently.
  4. Students will be asked to use the e-Class (once it is available) which is a learning platform that the students can access through Internet at home. This aims at enhancing the self-learning of students.
  1. Students are able to submit the questions on time and the quality of questions are up to their level.
  2. The group discussions, debate, etc are effective in promoting learning.
  3. Students are competent in presentation (e.g. materials prepared, organization, voice & gestures, use of IT, etc.)
  4. Studentsˇ¦ performance in the e-Class, e.g. participation, quality of discussion, etc.

ALL Biology teachers