TEACHERS praised the clear diagrams and the good lay-out of the Junior Cert science papers yesterday. "A nice paper" is how Mr Mattie Finnerty, a science teacher at Cashel Community School in Cashel, Co Tipperary, and ASTI subject convenor, described yesterday's ordinary-level paper. "It was well presented and simple language was used.
He was particularly pleased that the key words in each question were highlighted. He also said that the diagrams were clearly labelled. "There was overall satisfaction with the paper," he said. "My students were all very happy with it."
In the higher-level paper Mr Finnerty was delighted that it was necessary for students to have completed an experiment in order to answer a question in the chemistry section. "I welcome the fact that marks are being awarded for practical work in the classroom," he said. "It would be difficult to answer question 6 without having done the experiment in the class and that work is being rewarded now."
One or two sections could have proved difficult for students, he said. "The chemistry section would have proved the most difficult part," he said. It was unusual that students were asked for a particular chemical equation in this question. He described the biology section as easy.
With regard to the higher-level paper he said that "overall I found it to be a reasonable paper." Questions in the applied science section "appeared easy," he said. The materials science section was "fine." He felt that the energy conversions question was tougher than other years.
Students were asked to explain, using a diagram, how to make a simple electric motor. "That's a difficult diagram to draw, that would cause trouble," said Mr Finnerty. He said that section a was straightforward.
Ms Lily Cronin, a science teacher at St John's Secondary School in Balloonagh, Tralee, Co Kerry, also said that the ordinary-level paper was "clearly laid-out with good diagrams, which is always helpful to students." She was pleased that the first section with 15 questions "covered a broad spectrum of the syllabus."