Resource Plus

Resource Plus – one year on

Any teacher will tell you that a lot can happen in a year.

Learners make rapid progress, exam seasons come and go, and a whole range of exciting and challenging topics are covered in class from term to term.

For my team in Curriculum Support it’s been a very busy and rewarding year as we’ve worked on expanding and improving Resource Plus.

What is Resource Plus?

Resource Plus is a digital teaching and learning resource for teachers working with Cambridge syllabuses. It helps teachers around the world deliver the most challenging topics and develop students’ skills. Resource Plus is a subscription service in our online learning area. The new and innovative teacher and learner support materials are written by subject experts.

Last October my colleague Carl explained how Resource Plus was helping science teachers to overcome some of the challenges involved in carrying out practical lessons. We’re delighted that English literature and mathematics teachers will now also benefit from additional resources for their subjects too.

Resource Plus focuses on high-quality teaching and learning best practice, rather than just exam preparation. It supports the development of Cambridge learner attributes and encourages teachers to use a variety of engaging teaching approaches.

We develop each Resource Plus through quantitative analysis of exam results, as well as qualitative scrutiny of Principal Examiner reports, engagement with Cambridge teachers via our forums, and thorough review of the latest literature and research.

We have identified the key areas of each syllabus to focus on, as well as highlighting new syllabus topics, such as Venn Diagrams in IGCSE Mathematics.

What’s new?

Last year we launched Resource Plus with a focus on three IGCSE science syllabuses (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), and we have now updated these with new experiment videos and corresponding skills packs. We have now developed Resource Plus materials for five additional syllabuses:

  • Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics 0580
  • Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English 0475
  • Cambridge International AS & A Level Biology 9700
  • Cambridge International AS & A Level Chemistry 9701
  • Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics 9702

The Curriculum Support team has worked with experienced teachers to launch these innovative teaching and learning materials.

Each Resource Plus is tailored to the subject requirements and features an extensive skills pack. Included in these skills packs are detailed lesson plans, ready-built worksheets, and a range of activities.

New syllabuses for Resource Plus

What do teachers think?

It was important for us to gauge how useful schools were finding these resources, so we carried out a survey of teachers using Resource Plus for the three IGCSE science subjects.

The response was overwhelmingly positive – we found that teachers thought it was ‘well planned’ and praised the ‘visualization of experiments and infographics of different concepts’.

Looking ahead

Our work on Resource Plus hasn’t stopped – in fact, the coming year looks to be even busier than the last!

We will continue data analysis and engagement with teachers to develop and improve both existing and new Resource Plus products.

I’m happy to announce that the next three Resource Plus products will be launched in February 2019. Existing Resource Plus products will be updated annually, a year after release, and we will further enhance the user experience of the Resource Plus Online Learning Area.

We’ll also be looking at different ways to make Resource Plus even more engaging for our Cambridge learners.

Over to you

My colleagues and I would love to hear from teachers using Resource Plus – a detailed survey will soon be going out to our existing users which we will use to shape future updates.

We also invite teachers to use our forums to share ideas about improvements and additions to Resource Plus – and to take part in the rich conversation about teaching and learning already taking place there.

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Laura Humpleby
By Laura Humpleby

Laura is a Development Officer (Curriculum Support) at Cambridge International and joined the organisation in January 2018. She previously worked as a Secondary Modern Foreign Languages teacher and Deputy Head of Faculty in Cambridgeshire.

View all posts by Laura Humpleby