Team Project Handbook

Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives

0457/2069

Student’s name:______________________________
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Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………. 2

Key terms explained with reference to the Team Project…………………………….…...3

The role of the Learner ….……………………………………….……………………………..4

Preparation for the Team Project ………………………………………………………...….. 7

Approaching the Team Project……………………………………………………………….. 8

Choice of global topic, aim and Outcome for the Team Project…………………...…… 9

The Team Element: Outcome and Explanation……………………………………………..22

The Personal Element: the Reflective Paper………………………………………………. 25

Writing the Reflective Paper………………………………………………………………….. 26

Academic conventions ……………………………………………………………………….. 29

Checklist ……………………………………………………………………………………….... 31

Assessment of internally assessed coursework ……………………………………….... 33

Sample Team Project ……………………………………………………………....………….. 40

Team Project Marks and Commentary ……………………………………………………... 49

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Introduction

The Team Project (Component 3) is marked by the teacher and is then moderated by
Cambridge via sampling.

The Team Project makes up 35% of the total weighting of summative assessment for
IGCSE/O Level Global Perspectives (see figure 1). It is therefore important that teachers
know and understand:

• how learners should complete a Team Project,

• how teachers should assess their learners’ Team Projects
• what teachers should submit to Cambridge for external moderation.

For the Team Project, there are two elements:

• The Team Element: The Outcome and Explanation (up to 10 marks)

• The Personal Element: The Reflective Paper (up to 60 marks)

It is suggested that the Team Project should take approximately 20 hours to complete. At two
hours per week, this amounts to a total of ten weeks from start to finish. This does not
include the development of the skills needed as identified by the assessment objectives.
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Key terms explained with reference to the Team Project

Research – An investigation into and study of an issue from a global topic and different
cultural perspectives about this issue in order to establish facts or draw conclusions.

Analysis – The breaking down of something (for example the Outcome and individual work
processes). The exploration and explanation of the reasons for any strengths and limitations
plus suggestions for improvement.

Evaluation – An appraisal of something to determine its strengths/effectiveness and

limitations/ineffectiveness for a purpose or aim.

Reflection – Thinking about or considering why something happened or occurred the way
it did, in some depth. For example, identifying and giving reasons and/or justifications for
what was learned from different cultural perspectives and the whole project.

Communication – Presenting work in a coherent and structured way, using citations and
referencing.

Collaboration – Working together on a project to create an outcome to achieve a specified

aim.
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Role of learners
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1 Learners should be responsible for their own work.

2 Learners should not copy or paste any work from any website or any other learner. They
should make notes for each activity and use their own words in their Outcome and
Explanation and in the Reflective Paper. They can copy and paste the website address and
then add the date, title and author of the article and the date they accessed it.

3 Learners should ensure that they understand what is required for successful completion of
the Team Project. They need to have a clear understanding of the assessment criteria.
They should be encouraged to ask questions to clarify their understanding. They should
make notes from websites and then organise their notes accordingly. They need to make
regular personal reflections to help them with this.

4 Learners should plan their Team Project together, deciding who is doing what and they
should negotiate timeframes and deadlines with their teacher and keep a record of all their
team meetings, with a minimum of 6 team logs.

5 Learners should discuss aspects of their work with their teacher, but they should not
expect their teacher to do any of the research or work for them and they should not
expect written feedback or corrections on their work.

6 Learners should check that their work is complete and has been spell-checked and
proofread before submitting it for assessment.
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Preparation for the Team Project

Before starting their Team Project, teams should consider the following questions:

1 What global topic have we chosen and why?

2 What is the aim of our project and what are we going to do/produce to achieve our aim?

3 How might we critically evaluate this outcome in terms of how far it’s been successful in
achieving the project aim?

4 What do we need to find out and what do we need to do to create our outcome?

5 Who is going to do what and when?

6 Does our Team Project have enough scope for every team member to play a full part in
the project?

7 Is the workload manageable within the timeframe we have?

8 What plans do we have for gathering information about different cultural perspectives?

9 How can we show the different cultural perspectives in our outcome in order to meet the
aim of our Team Project?

10 How are we going to put together the explanation to go with our outcome?

11 How do I keep a track of my personal logs for the reflective paper?

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Approaching the Team Project

Activity: Create a plan for a topic of interest approaching the team project based on the
example provided above.
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Choice of global Topic, Aim and Outcome for the Team Project

1 What global topic have we chosen and why?

Topic

When choosing a global topic for the Team Project, learners are restricted to eight topics.
These are:

• Conflict and peace

• Disease and health
• Human rights
• Language and communication
• Poverty and inequality
• Sport and recreation
• Tradition, culture and identity
• Water, food and agriculture

Learners must choose a Team Project that fits within one of these eight topics. The topic
chosen should be clearly stated on all the work produced. Learners within the same class but
different teams may choose the same global topic but the focus and aim of the Team Project
should be different for each team. For example, if the whole class has been working on the
global topic of poverty and inequality, each team should choose a different focus, so one
team might be looking at homelessness, another at gender inequality in education or
employment, and another at food poverty, etc. Outcomes might be similar but the aim should
be different for each team.

It is very important that teachers monitor their learners’ choice of Team Project to ensure
that it fits into one of the eight global topics, has an appropriate aim and outcome, and that it
enables learners to achieve the assessment criteria as laid out in the syllabus.

Activity: From the list of global topics given, pick out one and search for an image related
to it. You can use the internet search website to type in the keyword, select “images” and
search or any other source you like. Based on the image selected, answer the following
questions:

1. What is the issue?

2. Who is it an issue for?
3. What is the message of the photo?
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4. How many people might be affected by the issue and who are they? (Both in and
outside the photo.)
5. What can be done to improve the issue?

Present your work in class to others.

Activity: Based on the presentations given and your own research, write a paragraph on
which global topic you would like to work on and why (50-100 words).

Based on the above activity, form groups on the basis of topics chosen or as per the
students’ inclination.

Activity: Based on the first activity, carry out preliminary research to identify an issue
within the topic chosen. This time, the search should reflect the local perspective. Present
your findings in your group. Discuss the data gathered as a group and choose an issue
that has local relevance. State issue chosen.
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2 What is the aim of our project and what are we going to do/produce to achieve our aim?

Aim

Once learners have chosen their topic, they should decide on a single aim for their Team
Project. This aim should be practical and manageable. Bearing this in mind, learners should
not attempt an angle so complex that they might struggle to finish in the available time.

Here are some examples of suitable project aims:

a) ‘To raise awareness about ...’ choosing an issue within the topic, for example ‘the
importance of saving water’ or ‘the disappearance of tradition and culture and how this
impacts identity’.

b) ‘To promote the importance of ...’ for example, ‘global food security’ or ‘healthy eating
taking into account cultural norms’.

c) ‘To encourage ....’ for example, ‘helping the homeless within a local neighbourhood’ or
‘supporting a charity providing accommodation for refugees’.

d) ‘To develop a solution to a problem ...’ for example, ‘improving disabled access to a
particular facility’

Learners should be advised that there is no requirement to use a research question for the
Team Project. Learners only need a research question for their Individual Report.

Activity: On the basis of the examples given above, carry out a group discussion to
identify at least 3 possible aims for the team project, given the selected issue within the
topic.
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3 How might we critically evaluate this outcome in terms of how far it’s been successful in
achieving the project aim?

Outcome

Once a team has decided on their project aim, they need to decide on an outcome that will
enable them to meet it. For example, if a team has the stated aim of making people more
aware of the importance of saving water, they might decide that an appropriate outcome for
the project is a television or newspaper advertising campaign. The outcome, like the aim,
should be practical and manageable and must be something that learners actually do,
produce or carry out. The outcome should demonstrate what the team have learned from
their research into different cultural perspectives.

Here are some examples of suitable project outcomes:

a) a poster or series of posters

b) an information leaflet or brochure

c) a short video-clip (maximum 15 mins)

d) a song or poem, which learners perform live that is video recorded

e) a web page

f) a design, model or blueprint for a product or similar

g) an even of some kind (e.g. fundraiser)

Activity: For the aim that has been decided, suggest a tentative outcome.

Activity: State the strengths and weaknesses of your outcome in terms of its effectiveness in
achieving the aim, using a T-chart and present in class.

A T-chart is a useful to compare two options, such as pros and cons. You can list the
options as headings for the columns below and then make comparisons by writing
appropriate statements in the corresponding columns, as per the template below.
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Activity: Decide on the suitability of possibles outcomes presented by each member in the
group and select one as a group by taking a vote.

Learners should also keep a log of how they felt about the Outcome achieving the aims, so
that when they come to write their Reflective Paper at the end of the Team Project, they can
include their evaluation in their write up.

Activity: Create a reflection space of your choice online or offline in which your reflections
can be recorded. Using the “five key questions” strategy, create a reflection about
finalization of I) project topic, II) aim and III) outcome, each.

The “five key questions” reflection strategy:

1) What happened?
2) What went well? Why?
3) What did not go well? Why?
4) What do I need to do now?
5) What do I need to know in order to do what I am supposed to?

Activity: Look at the assessment criteria for the team aspect of the team project (M.M.:10)
and state two actions that can be taken to ensure that the outcome and explanation will fall in
the markband 4 criteria.
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4 What do we need to find out and what do we need to do to create our outcome?
5 Who is going to do what and when?
6 Does our Team Project have enough scope for every team member to play a full part in
the project?
7 Is the workload manageable within the timeframe we have?

In order to answer the questions above, detailed planning is required. A good plan is
essential for any work, including a team project. Planning is the process of setting goals,
developing strategies, outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish our goals. Goals are
divided into two categories, long-term and short-term. A long-term goal for the team
project would be to complete the project outcome. The long-term goal may be further
divided into a series of short-term goals, which are achieved over smaller periods of time.

A long term plan, involving completion of long-term goals, can be made with the help of a
SMART plan, which is Specific, Measureable, Assignable, Realistic and Timely. It allows
individuals to understand what they are expected to do and why. Making completion of
tasks time-bound, will help your team plan and manage tasks more efficiently and avoid
panic towards the end of the process. Time management is a crucial skill. Making a
SMART plan will allow the students to get an idea about all the requirements associated
with achieving their outcome.

Activity: In relation to the aim, make a long term plan (SMART plan may be used) to
show what are the things that the group needs to do in order to achieve their aim.

The series of short-term plans, required to achieve the outcome, can follow the following
format:
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Activity: Hold a team meeting and keep a log based on the format given above to further
the plan of achieving the aim.
● Make a flowchart to tentatively structure all the work that is to be done
● Consider the method to be used for each component or activity of the work.
● Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this method
● Suggest what further preparation is required before each activity can be done
and how that can be done
● Consider the skills required for each of the activity mentioned
● Identify which of your team member/s is/are most suited to completion of a
particular activity
● Allocate responsibility according to the suitability of your team members
● Allocate a time-span for the completion of each task
● Ensure that each team member has a task to do
● Decide on the date, time and venue for the next team meeting
● Review this log to determine how successful it was in the next team meeting.
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8 What plans do we have for gathering information about different cultural perspectives?

9 How can we show the different cultural perspectives in our outcome in order to meet the
aim of our Team Project?

Cultural Perspectives

The assessment of the outcome and explanation rely on the successful communication of
different cultural perspectives and so that must be well developed.

Research methods

For the purpose of gathering data, both primary and secondary data need to be gathered.
One strategy would be to start with secondary research available in government websites,
blogs, research journals, international and local organizations, books, newspapers, etc. to
gain preliminary information about different cultural perspectives, related to the aim.

Activity: Carry out preliminary research activity related to the aim, diving up the work
amongst team members, such that everyone has some research to contribute and all
aspects of secondary research required are covered.

This can help guide you to sources of primary data, which could be experts in the matter,
local residents, those directly affected, etc. You also need to evaluate your sources to
ensure their credibility, which can be done using the CRAAP test. CRAAP is an acronym
for :

Currency; which means that the information found should be the most recent.

Relevance; which refers to how the topic is related to the information given in a source

Authority; relates to the author, publisher, or sponsor of the information and their education
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level and affiliations.

Accuracy; includes the evidence supporting the information such as research findings,
observations, or field notes.

and Purpose; where intentions of the author are relevant to see what the source is
intended for.

Activity: Carry out a CRAAP test to evaluate the sources used based on the preliminary
secondary research carried out.

Some of the methods of primary research that can be employed are conducting interviews
(which would be better suited with a smaller number of people) and constructing and
distributing surveys (which would be better suited with a large number of people).

Once the primary research has been conducted, the following steps need to be carried out:

1. Consolidating the data together: This means that all the data gathered from
different team members will be collected and saved together. You can share this
document in Google drive for common access.

Activity: Use the format given below to analyse the sources used and to identify related
causes and consequences, of the preliminary research carried out.
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2. Analysis of data obtained needs to be carried out: The data collected from these
need to be analysed and synthesised in a way which would support your aim.
Depending upon the kind of data you have gathered and consolidated, you need to
state your findings clearly. Analysis refers to making sense of the data available
through a detailed examination. Remember that when you analyse data, you are
looking for causes and consequences.
3. Synthesis of knowledge: The findings of the research need to be explicitly linked to
the fulfillment of the aim of the project and/or course of action.

Synthesis refers to putting together the information collected from various sources to draw
valid conclusions. One data has been collected by all team members, it needs to be put
together and organized to make sense of it all. One way to do that is by using graphic
organisers, such as the spider diagram given below:

Activity: Using the format of the spider diagram given above, synthesize the findings from
the research undertaken, to reach your conclusion/s.
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10 How are we going to put together the explanation to go with our outcome?

An Explanation is more than a description and learners should focus on answering

questions like ‘why’ and ‘how’ rather than just ‘what’. The Explanation should include the
following:

● The topic of the team project (from the list of eight in the syllabus)
● The issue chosen and why it is locally relevant
● The aim of the project
● A short description of the outcome designed and an explanation why
● Explanation of how the team’s exploration of different cultural perspectives has
informed or supports the Outcome

Activity: Work together to complete and submit the outcome and a 300 word explanation of
the outcome, containing different cultural perspectives, before the end of a suitable deadline.

11 How do I keep a track of my personal logs for the reflective paper?

Activity: Develop regular team logs that can be routinely updated at a fixed point (for e.g, at
the end of each week) to record the implementation of work on the team project. It can be
formatted in any way that you like but should include a summary of:

● what were the tasks to be done before each team meeting,

● to what extent it could be completed,
● what was not completed and why,
● what can be done to address the problem,
● planning for the next batch of work,
● allocation of responsibility for the work next,
● any other relevant comments

Writing down your thoughts will help develop your skills and clarify your feelings about the
process of working on the team project and your contribution to it. These logs can be used
to facilitate assessment, along with the team logs and class interactions of collaboration
between team members. You can also include the following points, given as examples:
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Some examples of entries into personal logs and how they can be better developed are
given below:
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The Team Element: Outcome and Explanation

(AO3 Communication)

The team must produce an explanation to accompany the Outcome of the Team Project.
This is a team effort in that each team produces one Outcome and one Explanation. The
teacher can award up to a total of 4 marks on the basis of the team’s effectiveness in
communicating their research into different cultural perspectives in the Outcome and in the
Explanation.

Up to a further 6 marks can be awarded on the basis of the team’s ability to work together
effectively to complete the project (collaboration). Although these are both within AO3,
there are two separate mark schemes with level descriptors that teachers must use in
marking the Outcome and Explanation. The Explanation should be written on a Word
document (so that word count can be verified) and must not be more than 300 words in
total. Teachers should stop marking after 300 words.

The learners should be encouraged to use sub-headings to ensure that they include all the
necessary information to address the three bullet points. Subheadings can always be
removed before submission if there is a danger of the word count being exceeded. The
syllabus states that teams should comprise between two to five members. However, the
optimum number is four as having this number will ensure that all members of the team
can be fully engaged in carrying out the Team Project. Too many team members may
mean there’s not enough for everyone to do, whilst too few might mean that each member
has too much to do.

As the Team Project is a team effort, it should not just be left to one learner to organise and
write the Explanation and/or to produce the Outcome. Although not a requirement, it is good
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practice to do some preparatory work about teamwork, decision-making, creativity and

planning, which all fall under the umbrella of the skill of collaboration, which is one of the
Global Perspectives' assessment objectives. The others are communication, research,
analysis, evaluation and reflection.

Different cultural perspectives

Cultural perspectives can include perspectives from people from other countries who
believe in different things and/or have a different world view, or perspectives drawn from
different cultures within the same country, for example, in respect of religious or ethnic
differences. It is hoped that learners will undertake some primary research and
interact with people from different cultures rather than simply researching
information about different cultures via the internet, but this is not a requirement of
this syllabus.

The team’s overall research findings relating to the development or production of the
project Outcome should be reflected both in the Explanation and in the Outcome itself.
Assessment focuses on communicating different cultural perspectives in both these
documents to meet the project aim. The team should therefore summarise their research
findings and not submit completed questionnaires or raw research materials.

In the Team Project, there is no requirement to consider global, national/local, and

personal perspectives, as there is in the Individual Report component. Learners only
need to focus on developing an awareness of a different cultural perspective or
perspectives for the Team Project.

Part of the Explanation might report on the findings from primary research, but there is not
the space within the word count to include completed questionnaires. Findings should,
however, be shown in the Outcome as assessment focuses on communicating different
cultural perspectives to meet the project aim.

The Outcome itself is to be submitted for assessment with its accompanying explanation. If
the Outcome is a web page or takes some other electronic format, candidates must embed
a link to the outcome in their explanation so that it can be viewed by both the teacher and
the moderator.

Because each member of a team needs to evaluate the team’s Outcome in terms of meeting
the project aim, it’s important that the team decide on a mechanism to gain feedback about
their Outcome. The team can ask for feedback after it has shown the outcome to peers,
friends, teachers, family or to the audience for the presentation should they produce one.
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They could produce a short questionnaire, hold interviews or a pre- post event quiz
depending on what the aim of the project was: raising awareness, promoting the
importance of something etc.

Since the evaluation of the project Outcome is marked on an individual basis, it will be up to
individual team members to:

• analyse and evaluate any feedback gathered

• judge the successes and weaknesses of the outcome in achieving the project aim
• suggest where and how the outcome might have been improved.

Collaboration (AO3 Collaboration)

Collaboration for this syllabus means the team’s ability to work together on their project as a
team for which the teacher awards a mark (up to a total of 6 marks as detailed in the
syllabus). The teacher will decide how well the team works together while completing the
Team Project. This includes agreeing on the project aim and planning and preparing
the Outcome and Explanation. Each member of the team is given the same mark for
collaboration so the importance of teamwork needs to be stressed; collaboration and
cooperation. It would be useful to monitor the team’s progress by completing a record sheet
so that a suitable mark can be arrived at, but this is not a requirement. The monitoring of
individuals within the team, through interactions with them, can also help support the mark
awarded for the whole team.

Learners will have a richer source of information to reflect on in their Reflective Paper if
they conduct interviews or talk with people from other cultures to supplement what they
have learned from secondary research sources.
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The Personal Element: the Reflective Paper

The Personal Element of the Team Project is The Reflective Paper. The Reflective Paper
is a substantial piece of work which attracts most of the marks for the Team Project
component (up to 60 marks in total). The Reflective Paper must not exceed 1000 words
and it is unlikely that a learner will fulfil all the assessment criteria effectively in any less
than 1000 words. The teacher must stop marking the Reflective Paper at 1000 words.
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Writing the Reflective Paper

(AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation)

The completion of the Reflective Paper depends entirely on the production of a tangible
Outcome. In the Reflective Paper learners must analyse and evaluate the strengths and
limitations of the Outcome in achieving the project aim. The Reflective Paper needs to be
written in the past tense as once the team elements are completed, learners explain how
the team project went and why they think this was, making sure that they include all the
elements within the assessment criteria as explained. Using subheadings linked to the
assessment criteria can help with the structure and organisation of the Reflective Paper.
Citations and references are not included within the word count.

Example subheadings might be:

• Evaluation of the project outcome and suggested improvements

In order to achieve marks in the top bands, learners should demonstrate an appropriate
balance between these strengths and limitations, with examples given explaining what
strengths the Outcome possessed and what the limitations of it were as well as how the
learners knew these were strengths and limitations. Examples should also be given of
the kind of improvements that could be made to ensure that the Outcome achieves the
aim, in response to any feedback.

• Evaluation of own work processes and suggested improvements

The Reflective Paper – Own work processes (AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation)
As well as evaluating and analysing the strengths and limitations of the Outcome in
achieving the set aim, learners also need to evaluate and analyse their own work
processes, e.g. their individual research and/or methodology; their time management
etc. and suggest how these might have been improved.

• Evaluation of working as a team

• Evaluation of Own performance as a team member

The Reflective Paper – Team work and own performance as a team member (AO2
Reflection)
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Learners need to discuss the benefits and challenges of working as a team as opposed to
working individually. This should be as a result of their experiences during the whole team
project. They also need to critically examine their role in, and their contribution to the
Team Project. They should also reflect on their own performance as a team member. For
example, whether they did what they said they were going to do and how well they did it,
with suggestions for improvements to their contributions in future team projects.

• Learning about different cultural perspectives

• Learning from the whole project

The Reflective Paper – Learning about different cultural perspectives and from the project
as a whole (AO2 Reflection)
Learners should explore what they have learned from their research about different
cultural perspectives and the project as a whole. As this component is team work,
each member of the team will explore different cultural perspectives on the issue chosen.
These different cultural perspectives should be evident in the project Outcome. Learners
can gain their different cultural perspectives from secondary research. They might,
however, find that they have more to reflect on in their Reflective Paper if they gain their
different cultural perspectives by doing some primary research.
For example, by interviewing people from different countries and/or cultures. This might
be done using a video-conferencing system, using social media or email. Teachers might
want to use the Global Perspectives Online Learning Platform to work with teachers from
schools in other parts of the world to enable learners to talk with each other about their
issues. This type of research will provide a rich source of evidence that learners can
draw upon when reflecting on their learning about different cultural perspectives and the
project overall.

Learning from the project as a whole might include reflecting on what they now know
and/or understand that they didn’t understand before. For example, a learner may
discover that contrary to their original belief, many people in a lot of countries around the
world are taking action to help refugees from war-torn countries.

• Key personal research findings

The Reflective Paper – Communicating key personal research findings and connecting
team and personal elements of the project (AO3 Communication)
For AO3, learners should communicate their key personal research findings with
appropriate citations.
They should also communicate the connections between the team and the personal
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elements in a structured and logical way.

For example, giving details about what they did to gather different cultural perspectives
as explained in the Explanation and how their research findings informed or supported
the team’s outcome. By doing this, learners are linking their own research and personal
elements to the team elements. Learners must also use citations, and reference all
citations in a reference list in a complete and consistent format.

Activity: Write the first draft of the 1000 word reflective paper based on the format given
above, keeping in mind the assessment criteria.
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Academic conventions
As seen, Communication is an assessment objective. This means that there are marks for
communication for both the Team Project and the Individual Report. As such, teachers should
develop learners’ communications skills. Listening, reading, writing and speaking are all
important communication skills, but for summative assessment, writing skills are of particular
importance. So teachers need to develop these throughout the course of study and not
expect learners to be able to write a 1000-word Reflective Paper or a 2000-word research
report without having first had the opportunity of writing something similar. Sub- headings can
be useful to structure work.

Citation and referencing of sources should be in a consistent format and should be

complete. This means that if a learner cites a source of information in the body of their work,
they must give the reference in a reference list at the end. There is no preference for a
specific referencing system, but learners should use the same referencing system
throughout the piece of work. Teachers might like to consider using this guide to citation and
referencing using the Harvard system with their learners:
https://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing

When citing from websites, it is not enough to just give the url address of the website.
Candidates should give the title of the publication, the author, the date, the url address and
the date the article was accessed. For example: Johnson, I. (2014) In China, ‘Once the
Villages are Gone, the Culture is Gone.’ Online,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/world/asia/once-the-villages-are-gone-the-culture-is-go
ne.html?_r=0 (accessed 26/07/2016).

Further tips to help with academic writing, which are useful for both the Team Project and
the Individual Report follow.

• Where abbreviations and acronyms are required to avoid repetition, learners need to make
sure that, on first mention, the unabbreviated term appears together with the abbreviation or
acronym, for example: First mention: “The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported...”
Subsequent mention: “According to the WWF...”

• Words such as ‘people’ and ‘ideas’ have the potential to be vague. Candidates should
avoid saying: ‘according to many people’. Rather, they should explain which individual
people and/or which specific ideas.

• When writing about their reflections learners should use the past tense as they are
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referring to a particular moment (I felt...).

• Learners should be encouraged to use straightforward language. Their reader needs to

understand the information or ideas that they are conveying. Good writing makes a point
clearly and uses examples and evidence to improve the reader’s understanding. To maintain
focus, candidates should plan the points that they wish to convey. They should include only
those details which are necessary.

It is particularly important that learners plan their Reflective Paper for the Team Project and
their Individual Report so that they don’t go over the word counts (1000 words for the Team
Project Reflective Paper and 2000 words for the Individual Report).

Activity: Complete all citations and references for the outcome, explanation and reflection.
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Activity: Complete the checklist given above on the basis of the first draft of your work.
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Assessment criteria of internally assessed coursework

Learners and teachers need to understand the assessment criteria for the Team Project.
Learners so that they know and understand how to achieve the marks they are capable of
and teachers because they need to mark their learners’ work as accurately as possible.
Learners who do not have access to the assessment criteria might be disadvantaged
because they do not evidence the skills required by the different elements of the Team
Project.

The Team Element

Taking the Team Element first, we can see that the assessment breaks down as follows:

AO3 Communication (Table A – up to 4 marks)

To gain full marks, the Outcome and Explanation need to show a full appreciation of the
different cultural perspectives explored to meet the aim of the project. If different cultural
perspectives are only shown in one or other of the outcome or explanation, a maximum of 2
marks can be awarded. Where there is virtually no evidence of cultural perspective(s) in
either the Outcome or Explanation, only 1 mark can be awarded and if cultural
perspective(s) are absent in both, 0 marks can be awarded.

AO3 Collaboration (Table B – up to 6 mark

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s)

‘Basic’ teamwork (as described by the Level descriptors in Section 7 of the syllabus)
involves the team choosing an aim and deciding who is going to do what. The team
may be more organised at the start or end of the project. Where teams work together
throughout the process in a sensible way and get to where they want to be, teamwork
can be considered ‘sound’. Where a team considers the best way of achieving what they
are going to do, for example:
• by playing to the strengths of individual team members,
• considering reasons for roles and having a strong strategy for achieving their project aim,
‘effective’ teamwork is probably in evidence. The teacher will need to consider how
effectively the team work together throughout the project when awarding a mark for
collaborative ability.
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The Personal Element – The Reflective Paper

AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation (Table C – up to 20 marks)

The most accomplished work will contain a consideration of the strengths and limitations of
both the project Outcome and the work processes undertaken by the individual. These
reflections should be supported by evidence. This means they must be explained by use of
example and that there should be a balance of strength and limitation for both. Such an
answer would meet the criteria of ‘full and in-depth’ in the mark scheme.

Suggestions for improving both the project outcome and own work processes should be
developed by use of examples or further explanation. Marking is positive so teachers should
credit where there is evidence rather than penalising candidates for not having including
evidence. If a learner’s Reflective Paper fulfils all the criteria at this level, then the top mark
should be awarded (20). Where elements of the level are not fully met, then the teacher
should award a lower mark in the level.
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AO2 Reflection (Table D – up to 25 marks)

The teacher should adopt a similar marking process to the one for AO1 research, analysis
and evaluation, when assessing reflection using Table D. ‘Insightful’ is the key word for the
criteria in Level 4, ‘clear’ in Level 3, ‘some’ for Level 2 and ‘Limited’ for Level 1, with limited
being little evidence of the criteria in the work. It is unlikely that work will be awarded 0
marks if there is evidence of some reflection, however basic.
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AO3 Communication (Table E – up to 15 marks)

For communication, the difference between the levels is indicated by the extent of structure,
consistency, and clarity, with Level 4 as clear, consistent, well-structured and cohesive
presentation. Level 3 is generally well-structured, with Level 2 having parts that might be
difficult to follow and Level 1 lacking structure.
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Sample Team Project Outcome and Explanation

Global Topic: Sport and Recreation

Aim: Raise the importance of physical activity in teenagers to promote a healthy lifestyle

Outcome
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Explanation

Fewer teenagers are taking part in sport in the curriculum and outside school for recreation
and subsequently their well-being is at risk. My group are quite sporty- I play soccer and Sam
and Nathan play basketball and tennis. We play in school but also after school and at the
weekend. We know however that some of our friends do not take part in sport outside school
and only get experience of sport in Physical Education lessons which are increasingly under
pressure from other areas of the curriculum. Therefore, they are doing less physical activity
and this together with a poorer diet could make them unhealthy both physically and mentally.
We also wanted to know if this is an issue in other countries for teenagers with different
cultures. We surveyed the students in our year group and those in the one above to see what
their sporting habits were like. We sent out questionnaires to students in the same year
groups in two schools that are linked to our own- one in China and one in India asking them
the same questions. We wanted to find out what they thought about the sporting activities to
see if there was a difference due to culture. We also interviewed the managers of three local
sports clubs – swimming, basketball and athletics to gain their perspectives on teenage
participation in their clubs. We thought this was useful to gain an outside more ‘adult’
perspective.

We delivered a presentation in assembly and organised a sports fair to encourage local

clubs to promote their sports and give students a chance to try new sports and maybe join
a club.

Word count 272

Bariatric surgery source (n.d.) Child Obesity Statistics & Teenage Obesity Statistics: 1963 to
Present (online) http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/child-obesity-statistics.html
(accessed 29/07/20160

Collaboration

Transcript of teacher’s assessment of group work

The team worked quite well together and were able to work alongside each other showing
cooperation most of the time. The team took some time to decide what they would be doing
and what their outcome would be. Initially they wanted to do a poster campaign but could not
decide how to measure its effectiveness. They then settled on a presentation and sports club
fair one lunchtime. They had different roles in the group and presentation (although one
member was away for this). They were able to complete their project despite some loss of
focus in the middle when individuals tended to do their own thing.
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Personal Element- Reflective Paper

Evaluation of project outcome

I think we were quite successful in achieving our aim of raising awareness about teenagers
not doing enough sport. I think the presentation had impact because it had photographs and
short information pieces which made it easy to absorb the information; we surveyed a good
number of the audience and read their feedback which showed they were immediately
interested and the presentation was relevant to them. I think they were interested to see that
similar issues amongst teenagers in other countries. We could have put a bit more in about
India instead of just having one graph which doesn’t say much about India as a whole but we
ran out of time. Lots of people came to our sports fair after the presentation and 20 people
who replied they did not do any sport, signed up to take part in a taster session. This means
that we had an influence on them and had we not provided the chance to learn about the
attitudes of teenagers to sport and try something new, they would never have done this. We
spoke to these students after their trial and 50% of them were carrying on with the sport they
had tried. The main limitation on impact is probably that we should have followed up the
presentation with a survey even later to see if sporting habits had changed permanently. This
way we would know for sure that students had taken on board our message.

Own work processes, contribution and learning

I sometimes worked alone researching because I was fed up with discussion. I think I did a
good job on my area of work for example, I prepared the questionnaire to ask students at our
school about their sporting habits and researched children and sport in the USA which is in
the PowerPoint. I did this on time and was also able to show Sam and Nathan how to use
the Excel spreadsheet to collate data and create the graphs from their questionnaires. I
realised we could have surveyed a wider group of schools to include more cultural
perspectives to ensure that this a common issue across all countries. I also think I would
want to do some more research into the difference between girls and boys in each country
and why in general boys tend to be more involved in sport in teenage years than girls. I know
I should get down to research quicker so I don’t rely on others too much or run out of time.
Next time I will try to do this better by being more organised.

Linking with the different schools and the sports club was really interesting. For instance, I did
not expect similar perspectives from teenagers in China and India; I learned that the issue of
teenagers not doing enough sport is not just something in the USA but happening in these
countries as well. Both Chinese and Indian students did some sports but not all of them and
especially not the girls in India. I wondered if this was to do with cultural perspectives of sport
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not being seen as the right thing for girls and that they had other things to do at home. In both
countries students said that cost is an issue of not doing sport outside school – it is expensive
and there may also not be a tradition of it. The Chinese government’s approach interested me
the most as they have a definite plan to get people involved and also produce excellent
athletes who can perform at world events. However maybe teenagers are the same the world
over? Other things take their interest and as doing sport outside school may be uncool or
even expensive; it might always be those who are more wealthy with pushy parents who take
part more. It was also interesting to hear the point of view of local sports clubs who need
teenagers to join and play so they can survive. These clubs were very happy to have new
members and they said they had noticed a drop-off in teenagers coming along. They
recognise that not everyone can afford the cost so were willing to consider ways to help
poorer students to play their sport; it surprised me that the managers of the basketball and
swimming clubs saw an opportunity to help ‘keep kids off the streets’ and reduce social
problems in the local area. I realise that a much wider survey would be needed to definitely
say what we have learned is true however we have a good picture locally and some idea of
other countries’ experience.

Benefits and Challenge of team work

I think that we worked quite well together – we did have a plan with some deadlines which
gave us a guide as to who would do a certain task and when it needed to be done by. This
was quite useful although we did not always stick to it. I think putting our ideas together at
the beginning about what we wanted to do was good as Sam came up with some ideas that
I had not thought of such as talking to local sports clubs to get an idea of their thoughts on
this issue. Being organised in this way helped a lot. Nathan also remembered our link
schools so we got our different cultural perspectives from teenagers in India and China and
local sports clubs organisers. This shows that ‘two heads are better than one’ because I had
not even though of this. It was difficult sometimes because we could not agree on how to
present our information to students and eventually decided on the PowerPoint in assembly
but it took a lot of discussion time which we could have used better on research. This made
me feel frustrated and I got on with things myself instead. We asked the same questions to
all schools to get consistency so we could compare them. This showed we were able to
collaborate well at certain times. If we repeated this work I would be more forceful on
deadlines to get things done to avoid just talking without actually producing anything.

Word count 997

Chen, B (n.d.) Sports in China
http://www.foreignercn.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=348:sports-in-china&catid=
1:history-and- culture&Itemid=114
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Team Project Commentary

Global Topic: Sport and Recreation

Aim: Raise the importance of physical activity in teenagers to promote a healthy lifestyle

AO3 Communication 10 marks

Team Element – Outcome and Explanation (4 marks)

1 Outcome: PowerPoint presentation showing different cultural perspectives about teenage

participation in sport and sports club fair to encourage participation in more sports
2 Explanation: project aim, brief description of the outcome; information on surveying
students in their own school and also in India and China.

Commentary
The team element is within the word count of 300. The Outcome (PowerPoint) has
information on learner perspectives in USA, India and China and images of sport in China.
There is explanation of how these were obtained through surveys to school learners. The
explanation also makes reference to linking with local sports clubs giving another
perspective to draw on and develop the learners’ developing knowledge in this area.
Level 4
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Team element - Collaboration (6 marks)

Commentary
Based on the teacher’s assessment of the group work where there is evidence of some
effective group work and commitment from team members, a mark in level 3 would be
appropriate. Evidence held by the teacher would determine whether it is bottom or top of the
level.

Personal Element - AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation (20 marks)

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Commentary
• Strengths and limitations of outcome in achieving the aims:
There is an attempt to evaluate how good awareness about sports participation was
achieved both by analysing the content of the presentation itself and the feedback that
students gave the team after the presentation. They were also able to gauge how effective
their sports fair was by the uptake of students participating in club sports. There is an
awareness of how to make sure the impact was long lasting (by a further survey some
time later to see if membership of clubs has persisted). Level 4

• Strengths and limitations of own work processes:

The candidate writes about what they did well and not so well; there is some awareness
of how work processes could be improved next time through better organisation but not
a detailed account. Level 3

• Balance between strengths and limitations:

There is a balance in amount of space given over to the strengths and limitations of the
outcome and the candidate’s own work processes. They are able to write in some detail
about both without either dominating. Level 4

• Use of examples:
There are examples used to support points made – the use of ‘for example’ and ‘for
instance’ in the text indicates this in There is also good reference to findings on China and
the government’s attitude to sport. Level 4
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• Suggested improvements:
There are references to the outcome with more content ‘We could have put in ...’ and also
the process considering how to improve the survey and investigating a boy-girl question e.g.
‘I realise we could have....’. Level 4

Personal Element - AO2 Reflection (25 marks)

Commentary
• Benefits and challenges of working as a team
There is a balance between strengths and weaknesses and some examples given of where
things worked or did not. There is some insight into the dynamics’ two heads are better than
one’. Level 4

• Reflection on strengths and weaknesses of own performance as a team member

The candidate articulates to some extent how the negative group dynamic of wasting time
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affected their work – they went off to complete work alone but they also appreciate how group
members helped their learning by bringing ideas on link schools that this candidate had not
thought about. Therefore, the reflection is balanced and insightful. Level 4

• Reflection on learning about different cultural perspectives

There is good reflection on learning from different cultures including those abroad and those
locally. Level 4

• Reflection on personal learning

There is clear reflection on what they have learned themselves ‘The Chinese government’s
approach interested me the most...’ and ‘maybe teenagers are the same all over the
world?’. Level 4

Personal Element - AO3 communication (15 marks)

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Commentary
• Structure, cohesion and comprehensive
The report has clear headings to provide structure; there are clear paragraphs and it reads
well providing evidence for all the assessment criteria. Level 4

• Presentation of research findings

Key personal research findings are presented clearly in the presentation. It is clear from
the text in the personal element which aspect this candidate has done. Level 4

• Connections between team and personal elements

Team and personal elements are present – they are pertinent and clearly made
throughout. Level 4

• Citation and referencing

Citations and referencing are consistent and mostly complete; there is little citation of
research, websites are pasted on the presentation. There is evidence of correct
referencing. Level 3