AS Module 2 - Coursework Ideas

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Site A (Resources/coursework ideas)

Clothes make the person
Good Taste/Bad Taste
Speak that I might see you

Site B (Resources/coursework ideas)

Popular Music - songs that saved my life
Retail Therapy
In my room: personal places

Coursework Resources
How to construct a webfolio or digital portfolio
Free software to help you make your presentation look good

Remember - these are just some ideas and suggestions for ways (introductory sentences) into the coursework - you can make up your own investigation on any of the areas in Site A

Webfolio of Coursework

• Investigation 1 (500 words)
• Exploration 2 (1000 words)
• Presentation

Investigate!
(500 words - Site A) 
        
“My investigation is into the relationship between musical tastes and a person’s attitudes and values. I did this by considering how my love of Thrash and Death Metal affects my attitudes towards others. Here are my findings.”
(37 words)

Or

“My investigation is into the ways in which ideas about the ideal male body image impacts on ideas about Ideal self. I did this by looking at male responses to male pinups in magazines aimed at teenage girls. Here are my findings. (41 words)”

Or

"My investigation is into the relationship between the wearing of particular clothing, individual identity and membership of a group or subculture. I did this by looking at items such as the hoodie and the way this affects other people's impressions of me. Here are my findings. (46 words)

(Ideas courtesy of Chief Examiner)

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Explore!
(1000 words - Site B)

These are the questions you should ask yourself when deciding what to investigate:

This is a Lasswell-style formula for explorations!
Three feasible explorations:

Exploration 1

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Exploration 2

Exploration 3

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Present!

• There are four key concept, two of which should be used to aid the interrogation of your focus area.

• You are expected to address ‘the place where the personal and cultural meet’, which merely means providing a twin perspective which is both personal (‘I’) and cultural (‘they’).

• The medium is a presentation, involving ‘Sound and Vision’, which means 'orchestrating’ material into an engaging show for an audience of your peers.

‘The focus is personal and cultural IDENTITY and the VALUE given to cultural activities: their REPRESENTATION by ourselves and others and their relationship to dominant values and POWER in our society.’

Who I am in context: ‘Show and Tell’

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‘SHOW’

What am I going to look at (content, themes)?
How am I going to show/illustrate this?
What evidence/support/resources am I going to look for?
What am I going to create?
How will I combine these elements? Example here

‘TELL’

What do I have to ‘tell’ (big ideas, argument)?
What do I have to say (more specifically) about the stuff above?
How can I sequence the elements I have identified for best effect?
How can I deliver the technical/theoretical analysis?
And this is what it might look like in action:

NOTE the presentation is NOT about titles but it is about using yourself as a place where site A and site B meet.

Key concepts and coursework suggestions

1. Emo and me: how I see and am seen: IDENTITY and REPRESENTATION
2. Surf’s Up: me as a muscle-free surfer: IDENTITY and REPRESENTATION
3. Something powerful between my thighs: biker chick chic: REPRESENTATION and POWER
4. Tattoo you: me and my body art: POWER and VALUE
5. Brassed off: playing the trumpet voluntarily: IDENTITY and VALUE
6. Close shave: I’m not a skinhead but . . .: REPRESENTATION and VALUE
7. Islamic extremist: traditional dress and identity: IDENTITY and VALUE
8. Vicious breeder: me and my dangerous dogs: REPRESENTATION and POWER
9. Local Hero: supporting my local team : IDENTITY and VALUE
10. Son and heir: what it means to be the oldest child: IDENTITY and POWER

All ideas courtesy of Peter Bennett, Chief Examiner, AQA Communication and Culture

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