A student guideTo completing Level 1 & 2 portfolios

What’s involved?Design a project outline. An explanation of what

your project is designed to show. Generally the project will be designed to compare or explore the information provided by two lots of figures.

Get 2 data sets.* These are two (or more) sets of figures (made up of at least 12 items for Level 1 or 20 items for Level 2) which will produce the information required for your project.

Make a few calculations. These arethe ‘sums’ which are used to illustrate the point orpurpose of your project.

Write a conclusion. A brief summaryshowing the conclusions drawn from the calculationsin two different ways, ie using text and diagram.

* DATA EXAMPLES

• Weights and sizes• Costs of things• Speeds and distance•Height, length, capacity•Age, gender, weight•Times and timetables•Ranges of activity•Performance measures

What’s your topic?The project can be on just about any topic or

interest such as comparing colleagues’ ages, qualifications, height or gender - which can usually be quickly obtained - with the same type of information collected elsewhere or at another time.

National figures like these, with diagrams, for your use are included at the end of this presentation

Example of successful project outlinesThe coffee shop I work in is being refurbished. The project I am undertaking is to see what type of customer is using our shop by recording their gender, their approximate time at the table and amount they spend. I will do this on three days and record my findings. I will then produce three diagrams to illustrate my results and, using a variety of calculations, show the trends for each of the days and compare them. I will write a conclusion which will help us decide on the new décor.

My team members use different

forms of transport to get to

work and some travel long

distances.

I am going to survey 15

colleagues and find out how

they come to work and what

sort of distances they have to

travel.

I thought of splitting my

information into two, looking at

age or gender differences but

I’ve decided to compare my

data with national figures.

Minimum datasets required for projects

You need 1 diagram to go with one of your datasets

Pie chart Bar Chart

Examples of acceptable diagrams

Project example 1John ForbesApplication of Number L2

Project outline

I intend to test 12 male and 12 female members of our gym aged between 20-29 years old at Central Fitness, Birmingham.

I will be collecting data on upper body strength and endurance with a press up test.

Their scores will be compared against the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) norms for both gender and age.

As John has done here, you can produce or source the 2 datasets yourself.

They could be from a random sample, a short questionnaire or figures based on your own activity, experience and knowledge.

Publications, company records and statistics, newspapers and the internet are other sources.

John’s conclusions

from this project are

on a later slide

Project example 2John has used records from his work in a gym as data. He has measured the number of press-ups managed by 12 males and 12 females and entered them into tables as the two data sources.

He has also generated a pie chart from one of the tables.

Most students have information like this they can generate quickly in the workplace.

How to write up calculations

Explain everything you do andwhy you’re doing it as if youare writing for a beginner.

Use your own words…

680680

Doing the sums L1 & L21. Addition. Add at least two lists of values showing any carrying over that you

do.

2. Subtraction. While doing your calculations make sure you do a couple of subtraction sums.

3. Range. Demonstrate a range between two numbers. (Highest value subtracted from the lowest).

4. Mean (Average). Work out a couple of averages. (Add a list of numbers together and divide the total by the number of values in the list).

5. Percentage. Find some percentages among your figures. (For example, each value in a list is a certain percentage of the total or value #1 is 30% greater than value #2 etc)

6. Convert. Work with and convert (showing your method) betweenpercentages, fractions and decimals.

25% = ¼ = 0.25

MUST DOWrite out, and work

out, some calculations by

hand and check the results with a

calculator

Doing the sums L2 onlyMedian. Mid-point in a descending (or ascending) list of values.

(For lists with an even number of values, add middle two values and divide by 2).

Mode. Value that appears most frequently in a list.

Formula. Use a couple of formulain your calculations such as:

Area = L x W

Volume = L x W x H

Average =

Average speed =

988766664437312219191932

MUST DOState the level of accuracy you are

using ie. “I rounded down the total to 2

decimal places”

Sum of terms

Number of terms

Total distance

Total time

Area and volume

Coming to a conclusionSelect at least 2 ways to present your

findings

Present your findings clearly using a chart, graph or diagram and describe your methods

Describe what your results tell you and how they meet your purposes

Example of project conclusionAs I had predicted and can be seen from the mean value, the male participants (30) managed more press-ups compared to the females (18).

It can also been seen from the percentages and the pie charts that the male group had a higher proportion of participants within the ‘Excellent’ (33%) and ‘Desirable’ (33%) range, compared to the female group who achieved 25% and 17% respectively.

The males had a wider range (21) of total press-ups achievedcompared to the range of 19 from the female group. This isa difference of only 2 between the two groups and is thereforeconsidered insignificant.

From these results it can be claimed that the male populationat Central Fitness, Birmingham have higher levels of upperbody strength and endurance compared to their femalecounterparts.

In this example John has drawn some interesting comparisons between male and female performance in press-ups. Project conclusions are clearly related to his project outline.

Information for tutors 1Copy and paste tables to Excel or Word to use in calculations. Accompanying diagrams can be pasted directly into the portfolio.

National populationMode of transport to workDriving a car or van 11,451,01

154.20%

On foot 2,218,992 10.50%

People who work mainly at or from home

1,728,851 8.20%

Bus; Mini Bus or coach 1,696,428

8.00% Passenger in a car or van 1,348,722 6.40%Train 910,573 4.30%Underground; metro; light rail; Tram 705,464 3.30%Bicycle 612,842 2.90%Motorcycle; Scooter; moped 234,686 1.10%Taxi or minicab 117,976 0.60%Other 92,222 0.40%

National working population21,117,76

7

Source: National Statistics Online

Information for tutors 2

National populationDistance travelled to work

Works mainly at or from home 2,872,016 13.6

%

Less than 2km (1 1/4 miles)

4,223,553 20.0%

2km to less than 5km (3 miles)

4,265,789

20.2

% 5km to less than 10km (6

1/4

miles)

3,864,551 18.3%

10km to less than 20km (12 1/2

miles)

3,231,018 15.3%

20km to less than 30km (18 1/2

miles)

1,140,3595.4%

30km to less than 40km (25 miles)

506,8262.4%

40km to less than 60km (37 miles)

464,5912.2%

60km and over 570,180 2.7%

21,117,767.0021,117,76

7

Copy and paste tables to Excel or Word to use in calculations. Accompanying diagrams can be pasted directly into the portfolio.

Source: National Statistics Online

Information for tutors 3Useful for a survey among work colleagues. Circulate questionnaire requesting highest level of qualification or gender & job title and make comparison with national picture.

National occupations by qualifications, Exercise and Fitness Industry

National occupations by gender,Exercise and Fitness Industry

Source: SkillsActive National Survey 2008