A new way of studying A-Levels for the polymath

If you are like me and like to learn about everything then I was thinking that a-levels could be taught differently and I was wanting some thoughts on my idea..

There are three levels of sciences - formal, natural and social.

Year 3 - Social sciences
Year 2 - Natural sciences
Year 1 - Formal sciences

Year 1: mathematics, further maths, philosophy, statistics, AS use of mathematics.
Year 2: biology, chemistry, geography, physics, psychology
Year 3: art, economics, english lang/lit, history, politics, sociology

Social sciences is where you would need to select what modules you do.

Geography and psychology in year 2 as they link the natural and social sciences.

There is no way you can study all subjects but if you are someone that could appreciate doing a lot of subjects as you love to learn and curious about the world then I think this would benefit someone who wishes to do as such.

Reply 1

Plagioclase

21

Original post by Protagoras

If you are like me and like to learn about everything then I was thinking that a-levels could be taught differently and I was wanting some thoughts on my idea..

There are three levels of sciences - formal, natural and social.

Year 3 - Social sciences
Year 2 - Natural sciences
Year 1 - Formal sciences

Year 1: mathematics, further maths, philosophy, statistics, AS use of mathematics.
Year 2: biology, chemistry, geography, physics, psychology
Year 3: art, economics, english lang/lit, history, politics, sociology

Social sciences is where you would need to select what modules you do.

Geography and psychology in year 2 as they link the natural and social sciences.

There is no way you can study all subjects but if you are someone that could appreciate doing a lot of subjects as you love to learn and curious about the world then I think this would benefit someone who wishes to do as such.

This is a little bit like the system a lot of countries in continental Europe use, I think, where all pupils are still required to study a range of subjects until the age of 18. I can think of two main problems with the idea you're proposing. First of all, the uptake would simply be too small for this to be a mainstream qualification. Whilst I appreciate that there will be people who would be attracted to a syllabus like this, it's only going to appeal to a very, very small number. Bearing in mind that teachers have to be trained to teach this kind of a syllabus, it would only work if it would attract a significant number of people. IB is similar enough to A Levels to make it still appealing to a significant number of pupils but this is a step too far. And schools wouldn't be able to teach it if only a couple of people per school wanted to do it, particularly since it would take a year longer than A Levels or IB.

The second problem is that it's simply impossible to cover any of those subjects in enough depth in that time frame to suit the UK's education system. It probably would work to some extent for the humanities where universities are simply looking for a range of essay-based subjects but for sciences, students simply wouldn't have the same depth of study as students taking A Levels, despite the extra year. Year 1 might be just about feasible for the brightest students if the Philosophy section was very brief but in Year 2, you're essentially giving students over double the workload that a normal student would have if they're studying those subjects to the same level. If you're some kind of genius then that might be possible but if that's the case, you'd probably just be better off fast tracking your A Levels and going to university early which would likely be more interesting anyway. A number of universities in the UK are starting to offer degrees that allow you to mix and match various different courses to your liking.

So it's an interesting idea but it wouldn't work with the system we have in place in the UK, with the higher education system that we have.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

yt7777

18

Original post by Protagoras

If you are like me and like to learn about everything then I was thinking that a-levels could be taught differently and I was wanting some thoughts on my idea..

There are three levels of sciences - formal, natural and social.

Year 3 - Social sciences
Year 2 - Natural sciences
Year 1 - Formal sciences

Year 1: mathematics, further maths, philosophy, statistics, AS use of mathematics.
Year 2: biology, chemistry, geography, physics, psychology
Year 3: art, economics, english lang/lit, history, politics, sociology

Social sciences is where you would need to select what modules you do.

Geography and psychology in year 2 as they link the natural and social sciences.

There is no way you can study all subjects but if you are someone that could appreciate doing a lot of subjects as you love to learn and curious about the world then I think this would benefit someone who wishes to do as such.

Why AS Use of Maths? surely you would want to do the A2 so that it includes the applications and comprehension modules where students take the maths they have learnt and apply it to real world situations, the AS is just Algebra and either Decision, Data Analysis(stats) or Dynamics(Mechanics) - similar to AS Maths without Calculus which you also do in A2 Use of Maths

I like the idea though, studying more over 3 years could be quite beneficial, however, i dont think this method should be compulsory, students should still have the option to pick their own combinations and specialize in a particular area if they wanted

Reply 3

Protagoras

OP

3

I have only seen 'use of maths' to AS level on the AQA website.

Clearly, this just speculating, and I'm not advocating rolling this out nationwide but the structure is clearly beneficial to anyone who wishes to apply a breadth of knowledge to their profession.

It's the links in between that make it so beneficial an evolution from man to nature to man.

Economics, English Lang/Lit, Government and Politics, History, Sociology
Political economy, Economic history, Socioeconomics, Psycholinguistics

Political psychology, Geoeconomics, Econophysics, Sociobiology, Geopolitics,

Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Physics, Psychology
Biochemistry, Geophysics, Psychophysics, Biogeography,

Geostatistics, Statistical mechanics, Philosophy of science, Statistical physics,

Further Mathematics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Statistics, Use of Mathematics
Logic,

(edited 8 years ago)

OP

Original post by Protagoras

I'd say there should also be an arrow going from logic to sociology (law and ethics) and one going from maths to sociology (economics).

Reply 6

Protagoras

OP

3

Thinking about this.. I'm not sure where I would put computing/computer science.

Year 1 is most obvious but it's recent that maybe year 3 to pull mathematics through natural sciences and apply to computer science.

A new way of studying A-Levels for the polymath

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