The teaching approaches described in the methodologies section of these guidelines may be used by teachers to provide a range of learning experiences for their pupils. Children's participation in these activities, their questions, predictions, hypotheses, discussions, explanations, drawings, models, writings and artefacts provide important information about their progress in achieving the objectives of the science curriculum.
This information is crucial to the teacher's professional judgement about how successfully pupils are learning. A number of techniques will be used in collecting and recording information about pupil progress in science. Each has its contribution to make in assisting the teacher in assessing progress, identifying difficulties, communicating to the pupil, parents and others and in planning further learning for the child.
Teacher observations
Science, by its nature, will involve children in practical investigative activities. Consequently assessing children's work will be carried out while the pupils are undertaking investigations and is dependent on observation by the teacher of children as they undertake investigative work. Observations may be made as children undertake activities or investigations, engage in discussion, plan experiments or interact with other pupils and the teacher. Although watching children during practical science tasks will provide information about their grasp of scientific knowledge, observations are particularly valuable in assessing the extent to which children have developed appropriate scientific skills of working and attitudes.
Some of the details of children's learning may emerge in an incidental or spontaneous way. At other times teachers may decide to look out for particular behaviours, abilities or interactions. For example the teacher may choose to concentrate on the way in which children identify variables as part of planning an investigation. It may be helpful in advance to identify the expected outcomes of the learning situation. This will facilitate a more structured assessment and will enhance the observations made.
Much of the information obtained through the teacher's observations will not be written down but noting significant aspects of some children's progress or gaps in their scientific knowledge and/or skills may help in the planning of future work for the individual, group or class. Notes might be kept in a simple notebook or diary or on a sheet for the topic, group or class involved. Teacher's observations complement other assessment tools so as to produce a much more comprehensive view of the child's learning in science.
Teacher-designed tasks and tests
Teachers will use a wide range of activities to introduce children to the units of the science curriculum, to allow them to work scientifically, to develop the skills required for designing and making and to reinforce knowledge and develop positive attitudes towards science and technology. The activities will involve observing both inside and outside the classroom, predicting outcomes, asking questions, designing and making models or structures, estimating, measuring and comparing, analysing objects and processes, hypothesising, recording and communicating in oral, pictorial, model, written and computer format. The active learning situations in which these will take place can be used to assess the progress of individuals and groups and can facilitate the evaluation of the development of children's skills and attitudes.
Exploring and undertaking investigations in the environment will provide crucial information about children's awareness of the diversity of living things, their appreciation of the interdependence of living and nonliving aspects of the environment and their awareness of the need to protect and conserve environments. Visiting sites of interest such as farms, factories, quarries will reveal much about the children's understanding and appreciation of the applications of science and technology to society.
The way in which children undertake, carry out and complete investigations in science will provide important information about the pupils' ability to work scientifically. The degree to which children observe accurately, annotate drawings, ask questions, predict outcomes, suggest hypotheses, identify variables and make assessments and judgements from the evidence available will be an important measure of the extent of their grasp of scientificknowledge and skills. Children's willingness to suggest and test ideas about the events and the objects which they observe will be indicative of their attitudes of open mindedness, confidence and flexibility to work in open-ended situations. Children's pictorial and written work, their models and representations and their communication in other forms should provide opportunities for them to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the physical world and their abilities to work scientifically.
Concept-mapping
Concept maps are one of a range of tools which teachers can use to gather information about children's ideas. Concept maps can be used as a tool for learning as well as a tool for assessment. They provide children and teachers with a method of recording and discussing children's ideas about different scientific concepts.
Concept maps are schematic representations of relationships between concepts. Usually the starting point for drawing a concept map is a list of concept words which are known to the children and which can be linked together. It is best to draw up the list with the children and it should only include words thoroughly familiar to them. They can then be asked to draw lines and write joining words on the lines. For children in infant and junior classes concept-mapping cards with pictures can be used. The results can be analysed to give insight into the relationships which the children see between things. The value of concept maps is enhanced if they form the basis for discussion and questioning between the individual child and the teacher.
Concept maps compiled at the start of the topic may indicate the level of understanding of the children and the misconceptions and gaps in their knowledge. Concept maps show a large body of information and can help to inform future teaching strategies. They are particularly useful in evaluating the learning that has occurred during a teaching programme. Children can complete concept maps at the end of the topic and these can give an indication of whether or not they have altered or changed their ideas and whether anything has been learnt or understood.
Work samples, portfolios and projects
The collection of samples of the children's work in portfolios provides one of the most important tools of assessment in science and SESE. The portfolio should contain samples of work that reflect a wide range of tasks which may be compiled by the teacher or older child, enabling balanced monitoring of the child's progress in knowledge and skills to be made in the context of the scientific topics with which he/she is familiar. Samples may be maintained by the child and/or teacher in simple folders or wallets.
Science copybooks, diaries, audio tapes, computer disks, models and artefacts might be included in the portfolio.
If work samples, portfolios and projects are to assist teaching and learning they must remain manageable, and so only the most significant items need to be kept. Samples should be retained when they
- show that particular objectives have been achieved, for example at the end of a unit of work
- mark significant progress in the application of a scientific skill, for example, if a child demonstrates the ability to identify some of the variables required for a fair test or can select the most relevant observations for an investigation
- indicate a weakness or gap in the child's knowledge or skills, such as the poor understanding of the variety of food chains in an ecosystem
- indicate significantly greater progress or a breadth of understanding beyond the content of the lessons.
Samples should have attached the name of the child, the date and the help, if any, the child was given in completing the task. The cumulative record of the child's work, some of which may be selected by the child, allows the teacher to make an informed professional judgement about the child's progress and his/her readiness for further learning experiences. It will also provide an excellent basis for reporting to parents and others. The contents of portfolios can form the basis of end-ofterm displays for parents and can inform the assessment of the child's progress which is recorded and reported on pupil records or pupil profiles.
Portfolios also have a role to play in helping the teacher to review and evaluate the content, methodologies and approaches which he/she has used over a term or year. Work samples which demonstrate the effectiveness of particular approaches or weaknesses in children's learning provide important information for the planning of future work. The analysis of portfolios from a range of children and classes by groups of co-operating teachers could lead to the sharing of teaching experience and the development of a common approach to the assessment of science within the school. It may also enhance the reliability of pupil assessment.
Curriculum profiles
Curriculum profiles provide a way in which the child's progress can be assessed and recorded using indicators of achievement. These indicators, sometimes grouped in sets, attempt to summarise the range of knowledge, skills and attitudes which might be expected at various stages in the child's progress.
By marking, highlighting or shading these indicators as they are achieved by pupils, a record may be kept of the child's progress. Reviewing the child's portfolio of work and other tasks completed by him/her will help the teacher to update the profile from time to time, and the curriculum profile can provide the information needed for the child's end-of-year pupil profile card.