Weather instruments moving between schools
The following new sources describe two fictional equipment-sharing projects.
Text One: An account from a fictional school network
Four primary schools jointly owned two portable weather stations. During its allocated week, Oakfield School placed one station on open grass and the other beside a brick wall. Because both collected readings during the same afternoon, pupils could compare the two locations without changes from one day to another affecting the investigation. The school completed this work without having to purchase its own instruments.
A technician provided every class with the same setup card. Even so, one group moved its temperature sensor to a different height halfway through the week. The teacher decided that the readings taken before and after the move should not be combined because the method had changed. A failed battery in the second station also left a gap in that station's record.
Each school received the cases for five school days, but delivery and collection occupied parts of the first and final days. Oakfield therefore had three complete days for recording. Its evaluation praised the opportunity to collect local evidence but recommended a longer loan, spare batteries and a check that pupils followed the same method throughout.
Text Two: A table and summary from a different fictional lending project
| School | Investigation | Benefit reported | Limit encountered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour School | Compare wind in an open yard and a sheltered corner | Pupils tested a question using places they knew | The mast could not be secured on the hard surface in the yard |
| Valley School | Record rainfall during an eight-day loan | Pupils took responsibility for a daily record | The loan included only one wet day, so it showed little variation |
| Central School | Compare temperatures in a playground and a garden | The readings led pupils to discuss how the locations differed | With one station, the locations had to be measured on different days |
Rotating the equipment allowed all three schools to conduct investigations in their own grounds. Teachers valued measurements connected to familiar places, and pupils practised setting up equipment and maintaining records. However, the project leader warned that results from different places were suitable for direct comparison only when the equipment was positioned and used in the same way.
Transport delays reduced Central School's loan by one day. Staff also reported that a short demonstration at the start of a loan prevented more setup errors than written instructions alone. The final recommendation was to allow time for training, site checks and repeated measurements rather than judging the project by the number of schools receiving a case.
Drawing on both texts, synthesise the benefits and limits of schools borrowing portable weather stations.
382 exam-style questions on WJEC GCSE English Language 3.1.3 Short and extended response question types. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.