English for Chemistry Foundation 2 (2025) (XHM-053)

In English 2 [2025], assessment components include:

• Compulsory Final Exam (online quiz_ bring your own lapttop or use the computer lab (55%)
• Presentation of a Chemistry paper (15%) 
• Lab report (15%)
• Socratic circles with Bioplastics paper (15%)*

Mock Exam (Mid-term)

In this exam you will be asked to participate so that get a simulation of a final exam (content, questions, marking).

Final Exam

• The online test will be on Moodle (e-learn) containing multiple choice and many open-ended questions (60 min).  Questions are randomised and they turn up in a different order for each student. Also, from a pool of 300 hundred questions students need to answer 50. The time provided is very limited. (Note: Students who failed last year were those who spent time looking for the answers online and then there was no time left to complete the whole quiz. Others failed because they hoped that they can help each other in groups but this is not possible due to limited time and random order. The only way to pass this exam is to study). The avegage mark in this quiz is 6/10.The lowest mark is 2/10 and the highest mark is 8.5/10.

Online quiz content 

• Technical vocabulary (Check out the glossary at the end of your textbooks)
• Academic vocabulary 
• Academic style and Scientific Conventions
• Grammar
• Reading comprehension of short paragraphs
• Evaluation of Powerpoint slides and Presentation narratives

Writing a lab report

Before your write a lab report for the experimental work you conducted during week 6 or 7 in your undegraduate Chemistry lab (word limit 1000 words). Follow guidelines here 

https://www.monash.edu/learnhq/write-like-a-pro/annotated-assessment-samples/science/science-lab-report

Designing slides for a scientific presentation

Before you present you 12 min presentation of a scientific article,  please watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp7Id3Yb9XQ&t=4s

The quality criteria I will be using for marking your presentations are also here:

https://cuwip.physics.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Good_Presentation_Guidelines_2page.pdf

and in the documents you can find a marking template. 

Before you take part in the Socratic Circles discussion:, you need to 

a. read the bioplactics papers in the documents in e-class

b. prepare for your discussion taking a stance in favour or agaisnts BIOPLASTICS and take part as an inner circle participant

During the Scoratic Circles you will

a. Take part in the discussion as an inner circle participant

b. Use the rubrics and observe another participant and provide feedback (as an outercircle participant yourself)

After the Socratic Circles

a. you will upload the Inner cricle participants report

b. You will upload your outer circle participant report and send your feedback to the inner circle students you observed

* The Socratic method begins with the assumption that the function of education is to draw the truth out of the pupil rather than “fill an empty vessel.” In practice, it is a series of guided questions known as the dialectical method of inquiry. (Soccio, 2015, p. 10, italics in original) [It] has come to mean any pedagogy conducted through question and answer, as distinguished from pedagogy conducted in lecture form. (Scott, 2012, p. 1). It is a pedagogical method that pursues truth through analytical discussion. (Spencer & Millson-Martula, 2009, p. 39)