Year 13 Super Curriculum Guide

Super Curriculum Guide - Year 13

What is the ‘Super Curriculum’?

• • •

The curriculum is what you study and learn in your lessons The extra curriculum is the things you do in school that have nothing to do with your lessons – sports, clubs, volunteering for example.

The super curriculum is what you do outside of school on your own to go into greater detail about what you have learned in class; for example, you have read a ghost story in class and in your own time you might: o Read another story by that author o Try one by a different author o Research the author’s life and work o Visit a place associated with the author.

The ‘Super Curriculum’ provides you with a range of activities that take your regular curriculum further. These activities can take many forms including reading, watching videos online, downloading podcasts, attending lectures, visiting museums or entering academic competitions.

Engaging in super curricular activities will help you develop a love for your favourite subject or subjects. Developing a passion for a particular subject, or subjects, can begin at any time so we have provided a list of potential activities that students can try from KS3 - KS5. This list is not exhaustive but merely an indication of the possibilities available to students.

You may come up with some ideas of your own, so these suggestions may just help to get you thinking! We hope you enjoy exploring what interests you and going beyond the classroom on your own.

When you apply to university, admissions tutors will be looking for evidence that you are passionate about the subject. You will no doubt have a long list of things that you do out of school that are unrelated to the course you intend to study, this may be sport, music, or drama, and these are extra-curricular. Universities will look for this kind of thing because it demonstrates a range of useful skills such as time management, leadership, teamwork and so on.

However, they will also want to hear about what you have done that goes above and beyond the IGCSE or A level curriculum in the subject you are planning to study. If you really want that university place, this is an opportunity to show admissions tutors that you are better qualified than anyone else.

Reading Activity

Trip or Visit

Writing Activity

Internet Activity

Watching Activity

Creative Activity

Listening Activity

Student-led Task

Research activity

Listening to song Task

Art Borrow a book from the Art Library on a specialism you want to explore further eg.

Lithography, Photographers’ Sketchbooks, Intaglio printing, Acrylic painting.

Visit Open Days at universities or online for Arts Degrees or Foundation Courses.

Take up a 30-day drawing challenge or A Drawing a Day for a Year.

Such as Inktober or Portrait Challenge.

Attend a free course at MOMA online to develop your critical understanding and History of Art.

Read the relevant sections of The Story of Art by G H Gombrich and Ways of Seeing by John Berger

Use the Apps Google Arts and Culture and the Art Story to enhance your contextual links.

Listen to the Grayson Perry Reith Lectures.

Attend a Life Drawing class in your local area or online through the Royal Academy of Arts.

Use The Drawing Projects book to develop your confidence in drawing and observational skills.

Watch episodes on HENI Talks

Use Apps such as Photoshop Mix. Snapseed and Adobe Draw to develop your photography and editing skills and digital drawing.

Follow galleries and artists on social media so you know about current exhibitions, projects and workshops.

Create a digital portfolio of your artwork or website.

Use the Tate forum as an inspiration. https://www.tate.org.uk/tatecollective/showcase

Use the Tate gallery’s student resource section to help you generate research and ideas for your exam theme.

Read the subscriptions in the Art Department such as Frieze magazine, Aesthetica, Crafts and Art Monthly to keep up to date with the Art World.

https://www.tate.org.uk/ar t/student-resource/examhelp

Biology

Visit Belgium’s Museum of Natural Sciences Belgian Museum

Explain how the vaccines against COVID-19 have been developed

Use the ‘Britannica School’’ website to write a report about Alexander Fleming

Read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Sign up for the Biology competition

https://ukbiologycompetitions.org/

Read The Double Helix by James D. Watson

Watch Human Planet and explain influences humans have upon the ecosystem

www.imdb.com/title/tt1806234/

Help species diversity at home by planting a flower box

Participate in the Year 12 Biology Trip to the Gredos Centre

Visit the Smithsonian virtual museum tour

Read 3 articles on current discoveries in Science

Review an article or an experiment from the www.rsb.org.uk/

Make a revision quiz on Kahoot or Socrative! for a topic and ask to use it in class

Watch David Attenborough: A Life ON Our Planet and write a short review

Review an article from Biological Science Review

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtualtour

www.gredoscentre.com

www.iflscience.com/

Business Studies

Listen to a BBC Radio ‘World of Business’ podcast

‘Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing’

by Karen Nelson-Field

Watch a TED Talk about strategic management

Perform ratio analysis on the financial statements of a well-known PLC

Lead a revision session for your class on your favourite Business topic

Read a newspaper article about business and create a short synopsis

Prepare a SWOT analysis for a local company

Create a ‘how to’ poster for one of the quantitative techniques on the A Level syllabus

Bank of England

Choose a PLC and track the price of its shares on the stock market

www.bankofengland.co.uk

Create a diagram summarising strategic management

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/

Watch an episode of ‘Mary Portas Queen of Shops’ on YouTube

Research government controls on business in your home country

Make a revision quiz on Powerpoint or Kahoot! for a topic and ask to use it in class

‘Effective Strategic Leadership: The Complete Guide to Strategic Management’

by Adair

Chemistry

Review the history of Otto Hahn and his contribution to nuclear fission

Watch episode 12 of the TV series Cosmos and explain the influence of CO2 emissions

Design an experiment with household products to explain a concept studied in Y13

Get a tweet recognised by an influential scientist

Use the ‘Britannica School’’ website to write a report about Linus Pauling

Cite des Sciences et de l’industrie, Paris

Read 3 articles on current discoveries in Chemistry

Research the history of Graphene

Review an article or an experiment from the

Design an experiment to investigate a variable influencing the rate of a chemical reaction

Watch Periodic Table of Elements by Jim Al-Khalili on Youtube www.youtube.com/

Visit the Faraday museum in London www.rigb.org/visitus/faraday-museum

Join the group Analytical Chemistry Techniques and review one of their articles

www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk/

www.cite-sciences.fr

www.rsc.org/

www.iflscience.com/

Make a revision quiz on Kahoot or Socrative! for a topic and ask to use it in class

Write a report relating an A2 topic and one of the Nobel prizes in chemistry in the 1990s

Computer Science

In Code: Charles Petzold Read this book In Code, author Charles Petzold asks the question: What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers?

Where it all started Watch the Ted Talk by Kevin Slavin on how Algorithms run our lives https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_slavin_h ow_algorithms_shape_our_world

Raspberry Pi Why not get yourself a credit sized computer? There are so many projects you can complete with this tiny computer.

Take a look here for inspiration:

Need Python Support?

Try this series of 67 tutorials that will take you right from the beginning to advanced Python programming

https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEgO04 7GxaQ

Learn Coding Develop your programming skills by challenging yourself to complete as many tasks as you can, from Recursion to Java: https://www.codecademy.com/

Prepare for University Develop your C++ or Java programming skills with these tutorials, languages used by many University courses and employers https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/afew-common-cpp-problems/ https://www.learnjavaonline.org/

Learn about University Courses Not sure what a university Computer science degree involves? Check out this information from Manchester University for their BSc Computer Science:

Choosing a university for Computer Science: This league table for 2020 gives information on the best universities for Computer Science

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/unde rgraduate/courses/2020/00560/bsccomputer-science/course-details/#courseprofile

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.c o.uk/league-tables/rankings/computerscience

https://www.ibm.com/quantumcomputing/learn/what-is-quantumcomputing/

Computer Museum at the faculty of Computer Science, Stuttgart Plan a visit to the Computer Museum Universitaet Stuttgart, Institut fuer Softwaretechnologie Universitaetsstrasse 38, 70569 Stuttgart How to get there: by train or car, open every Tuesday afternoon by appointment

A Computer that works like a brain: Kwabena Boahen Watch the Ted Talk on why Computers could be reconfigured to work like a human brain:

How does A.I function?:

http://computermuseum.informatik.unistuttgart.de/

https://www.ted.com/talks/kwabena_boah en_a_computer_that_works_like_the_brai n?language=en

IBM: Quantum Computing Read through this IBM site all about Quantum computing to be aware of the next steps in the evolution of Computers:

Give this simulation a try to help you understand how A.I. learn, grow and communicates: A.I.

Drama

Perform a monologue of your choice using Stanislavski’s system for actors. Consider how your character is feeling and understand why.

Create a Squeeze Duet (including RBT), based on the work by Frantic Assembly perform it in an unusual location, film it and share it using Teams.

Read a new play and share your director’s concept with your teacher.

Use ‘No fear Shakespeare’ to familiarise yourself with the plot of a Shakespeare play you have never read.

Listen to a radio play to see how performers use vocal techniques to create character.

Design a Set model box (diorama) for a play you have watched. Think about appropriate materials, colours and sizes that can be used to create symbolism.

Through a discussion with your teacher, organise a ‘lunchbox theatre’ event in school to demonstrate something you have been working on in lesson and a lunch time.

Perform a song from musical theatre, film it and share it using Teams.

Create a theatre project for younger pupils in lunchtimes, to help develop experience of direction and space management.

Write a short review of one piece of work you have performed, focusing on how adjustment of technical theatre could enhance the performance.

Organise a theatrical evening on a theme of your choosing. This could be anything from an improvisation evening to a rehearsed reading.

Watch a musical theatre performance online.

Economics

Complete an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in Economics

Watch one of the following films: The Big Short, Laundromat, Freak economics, Inside Job

Go and visit either: Bank of England, EU Commission (Brussels), ECB (Frankfurt)

Run an “Investor Challenge” club – promote to students in KS3/4/5.

Lead a revision session for your class on your favourite Economics topic

Read a newspaper article from the Economist and write a short synopsis

Research a developing, emerging and a developed country and compare standards of living https://www.worldometers.info/wo rld-population/population-bycountry/ https://oec.world/en/profile/countr y/blr/

Enter the following Competitions: 1. The Marshall Society (Cambridge University Economic Society) essay/article competition 2. Young Economist Essay Competition run by the Royal Economic Society 3. Generation euro student award

Look at the economic news on the BBC or Guardian website – apply Economic theory in the form of a report or poster https://www.bbc.com/news/busi ness/economy https://www.theguardian.com/b usiness/economics

Listen to a Economics podcast https://www.intelligenteconomist.c om/economics-podcasts/

Become an Economics Captain and take on additional responsibilities to promote Economics.

Tweet about Economics and follow others that do.

Share any interesting articles or create a blog.

Watch episodes on the Economist Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/chan nel/UC0p5jTq6Xx_DosDFxVXnW aQ

Choose a book to read from the.

Write a short summary of what you have learnt

Read the Economics Review and write a synopsis of what you have learnt

English

Watch film and / or drama productions of the texts you are studying.

Take the opportunity to visit the various theatres in Luxembourg to see live drama.

Read, or better still, watch a Shakespeare play.

Research a literary genre an author or period, e g: Gothic, Dickens, Romanticism.

Read at least one other text in the same literary genre or style to one you are studying.

Read for pleasure on a historical topic that interests you to improve your contextual knowledge. Ask your teacher for advice.

Try reading some short stories as an introduction to new writers

Read contextual literature around the texts you are studying. These can be found in L001

Visit the Poetry library at the Southbank Centre: https://www.poetrylibrary.or g.uk

Read the quarterly journals English Review and eMagazine to supplement your English studies.

Use the online resource and revision site Connells Guides to enhance your learning and broaden your understanding of the texts studied at A Level.

Visit the website of the British Library and explore the vast array of resources available to enhance your studies.

Try the book ‘Best European Fiction 2020’ – or any other year - as a way of discovering new writers.

Write an article for younger students about a text you have particularly enjoyed.

Subscribe to The Times Literary Supplement. https://subs.thetls. co.uk

Geography

When you take a trip/holiday make notes/take photos of the impacts of tourists and the management in place there.

Watch a Congo: A journey to Read ‘Prisoners of Geography’ the heart of darkness to

By Tim Marshall. understand more about this fascinating and troubled country. https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=43xTvpxWLW4

Read ‘After Geoengineering’ By Holly Jean Buck.

Read ‘Climate Leviathan’ by Wainright and Mann.

Download the ‘World Factbook’ App to have a world of statistics at your fingertips.

Download and listen to a podcast from BBC4 ‘From our own correspondent podcast’.

Read ‘Postmodern Geographies’

by Edward W Soja

Visit the Royal Geographical Society website and find out how to become a Geography Ambassador.

Select the hardest past paper essay question you can find, answer it and submit it – all without use of the mark scheme.

Watch ‘Blood Diamond’ a film about civil war and the battle to control resources in Sierra Leone.

Read ‘Burning up’ By Simon Pirani

Visit the Smithsonian volcano website to keep informed about current eruptions https://volcano.si.edu/

Watch and review a TEDTalk about sustainability.

Write an essay for the Royal Geographical Society annual competition.

History

Create timelines on both of your topic

Read for pleasure on a historical topic that interests you. Ask your teacher for advice.

Borrow a History Today or Modern History Review magazine from the Challenge Library

Read: Martin Luther King Jr, Peter Ling from the Challenge Library

Read: The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America, Kevern Verney, from the Challenge Library

Read: Barack Obama Trilogy Dreams From My Father, The Audacity of Hope, A Promised Land

-Watch: Roots (2016), The Color Purple and ‘12 Years a Slave

Watch: Lincoln, Selma, 42, and Tuskegee

Read: The Lost Empire, Serghi Plokhy, from the Challenge Library

Read: ‘The Rise and Fall of Communism’ by Archie Brown, from the Challenge Library

Watch: The Fog of War. Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara

Read: Revolution, 1989: Victor Sebestyen, from the Challenge Library

Read a novel about Civil Rights such as ‘The Help, ‘The Color Purple’ or ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’

Watch: Read: ‘The Cold War’ or ‘We Now Know’ by John Lewis Gaddis

Watch CNN Cold War documentaries.

Mathematics Research ‘The Calculus Wars’ This is the bitterest mathematical dispute in history. What was the dispute? What is the evidence for both concerned? Whose side are you on?

Mathematical Art Get inspired by this video showing mathematical art masterpieces on Desmos, and create your own! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =MWmnXUXfFOg

How to Study for a Mathematics Degree by Lara Alcock Helpful guide to those transitioning from high school mathematics to university mathematics. It has lots of tips on how to do proofs, etc.

Cantor’s Infinities Watch this lecture on infinities: highlight includes Hilbert’s ‘Infinity’ Hotel’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =SqRY1Bm8EVs

L'Hôpital’s Rule Watch this Krista King video with examples on limits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =uhxGH7OhrIM

The Basel Problem Research the Basel problem. What is it? Why is it so named? Which mathematicians have provided a proof of the problem?

Differential Equations What are they and what are they used for? How do you verify (or find) their solutions?

The Map of Mathematics This video shows how pure mathematics and applied mathematics relate to each other and all of their subtopics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =uhxGH7OhrIM

The Riemann Hypothesis The greatest unsolved problem in mathematics. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d6 c6uIyieoo

Euler’s Exponentials Watch this lecture on Euler and e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =VIADThf8gjE

Complex Partial Fractions See how the power of algebra is opened up with the help of complex numbers. https://nrich.maths.org/2380

Towards Higher Mathematics

by Richard Earl Bridges the gap to university-level mathematics. Many proofs are provided to better equip students for the transition to university.

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra Numberphile video proof of one of the most important theorems in maths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =shEk8sz1oOw

How to Think Like a Mathematician: A Companion to Undergraduate Mathematics by Kevin Houston This book will help you develop an arsenal of techniques to help you unlock the meaning of theorems, proofs, etc.

An Imaginary Tale: The Story of √-1 by Paul J. Nahin Learn how mathematicians dealt with the complex number i, in this interesting mix of calculus and history.

Media

Produce ‘alternative videos’ in addition to your main promo clip using formats such as lyric video, visualizer, single-take, teaser, unwrapping (see this guide post on musividz)

Present episodes of the twicemonthly B122 Show on Radio Ara, reflecting some Media learning and journalistic endeavour eg vox pops

View and assess past student coursework productions and blogs, noting particular features you admire or might seek to improve

Take on a producer role, coordinating each Y10, 11, 12, 13 group’s radio work, and ensuring that they and Ara have up to date details on the show schedule

Mentor KS4 students to assist them with their initial experiences of radio broadcasting, or AS students to help with blogging techniques

Use the wide range of library and classroom books to engage in further reading around your coursework or exam topics

Use the mediareg blog for wider reading on regulation cases and issues in the press, film, music and other media industries

Use the musividz blog to research trends within the music industry, including regularly updated posts like the 2021 industry overview

Using boxofficemojo.com assess the budget and box office/distribution of the last 3 films you viewed, or to add to discussion at home

After watching a film at home assess whether it meets the criteria of the Bechdel Test, or quiz others on whether popular films pass or fail

Watch playlists, such as charts, of music videos to practise identifying and analysing media language and representations

Use the selection of music video directors DVDs (eg Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry) to do a case study of an auteur’s style

Create a short written, illustrated guide to any aspect of your Media Studies learning for a nonspecialist, incorporating this into coursework blogs

Use social media and/or survey sites to research issues through opinion polls and to seek audience feedback on coursework rough/sample cuts

Create jingles for the B122 Show, or logos/artwork for other Media productions; contribute to the show’s marketing eg through posting on the Insta account

MFL (French/German)

Watch one newsflash daily on French or German TV and summarise in 2-3 line(s) two of the issues mentioned.

Visit or research a town/city in Germany or France and describe it briefly. What is the importance of this place? Why is it famous for?

Listen to a French radio station for one hour a day.

Ex. L’essentiel, RTL France, NRJ, RFM, Fun Radio, France info.

Borrow one French/German film from our library and write a short review on it.

Go and watch a French play at the TOL or TNL. www.theatres.lu

Research the recent changes in society (new immigration laws, social inclusion). What main changes have been implemented? How are they seen by the population?

Produce a short video or audio podcast on two cultural aspects/traditions in France or Germany.

Read a French novel (not studied in class) and write a summary of 120150 words.

Go to the local cinema and watch a film in French/German (with subtitles in English). https://kinepolis.lu/fr

Find a famous French/German band or singer and write a short presentation of them. Afterwards pick one song and listen to it.

Research how the school systems are different in France or Germany?

What about applying to university?

Visit the Bibliothèque Nationale in Kirchberg and find out how to borrow books. www.bnl.lu

German A Level: Watch a documentary about the reunification of Germany. What triggered the fall of the wall in 1989?

French A Level: write an essay 300350 words on one of the following topics: Alternative measures to prison: how to punish criminals more effectively?

How to make society more inclusive (to fight social exclusion)?

German A Level: research the role of Germany in the EU. How has it evolved? What is the current German strategy regarding the expansion of the EU?

Music

Listen to Radio 3 or Classic FM

Listen to two different composers from the same era and compare and contrast.

Enter yourself for Grade 5 or 6 Theory.

Use Auralia regularly to help train your listening skills.

Watch an opera screening at the cinema such as MET live.

Research an area of interest to publish in the school newsletter.

Watch a performance of the Rite of Spring

Make a playlist of the 10 most important works for your first instrument or voice tape and listen to as many versions as possible.

Can you learn all of them?

Go to a concert at the Philharmonie or Conservatoire.

Apply for a summer school or workshop over the summer.

There are lots of online courses on www.futurelearn .com/courses

Audition for an AMIS ensemble or for a European Youth Orchestra or Chorus.

Set up a lunchtime concert.

Join a Music club.

Help organise in school concerts.

Arrange parts for a school group to improve

PE

Research the best PE degree courses in the UK on UCAS

Read the Journal of Sport and Exercise Physiology online.

Icarus (2017) Bryan Fogel, Netflix.

The Last Dance (2020) Netflix

An internationally famous sports venue in Europe.

A live sports match or tournament in Luxembourg/Europe.

Become a qualified referee/umpire in a sport of your choice

Become a qualified First Aider

Write a diet and exercise plan for one month in a sport of your choice

Volunteer to help coach in PE lessons or an after school sports club.

Read a sports biography/autobiography

Listen to sports podcasts to widen your interest in a range of different sports

Volunteer in a community sports club.

Research the history of the Olympic movement

Keep a training log for one month

Physics

Visit Mars! https://accessmars.withgoogle.co m/

Investigate a range of career opportunities for physics graduates

‘The Theory of Everything’ directed by James Marsh

‘QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter’

by Richard Feynman

Galileo Museum, Florence ‘Quantum: A guide for the https://catalogue.museogalileo.it perplexed’ by Jim Al-Khalili /index/IndexObjectsByRoom.htm l

Use the ‘Britannica School’’ website to write a report about Nikola Tesla

CERN, Geneva https://home.cern/

Read 3 articles on current discoveries in Science www.iflscience.com/

‘Cosmos’

by Carl Sagan

Read about the Nobel prizes in physics; the scientists and their discoveries

Make a revision quiz on Kahoot or Socrative! for a topic and ask to use it in class

Museum of Flight, Seattle https://museumofflight.org/Explo re-The-Museum/Virtual-MuseumOnline

Create a physics video in the style of ‘Minute Physics’ or ‘Vsauce’ (from YouTube).

‘Trespassing on Einstein’s lawn’

by Amanda Gefter

Psychology

Use the ‘Britannica School’’ website to write a report about Carl Jung

Watch the film ‘Shutter Island’ about schizophrenia

Take part in some research online

www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/psychol ogy/online-studies

Create a simulation to be used in the mock court room!

Watch the TED Talk about the reliability of eyewitness testimony by E. Loftus

www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_l oftus_how_reliable_is_your_m emory

Listen to a podcast related to clinical and behavioural psychology

http://thepsychfiles.com/about-thepodcast/

Visit a clinic or hospital to gain insight on the work of a clinical psychologist.

Watch the film ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ about schizophrenia

Find 10 facts about Eating Disorder behaviour

Produce a piece of display work depicting a psychological theme of your choice

Read a Psychology Review magazine and write a summary of an article

Recommend a book of your choice that can be added to the psychology section in the school library

Carry out two activities from the BBC science website

www.bbc.co.uk/science/human body/mind/index_surveys.sht ml

Make a podcast (3 minute) about Psychological Formulation

Watch one of these films about schizophrenia • Beautiful mind • Awakenings