What are broad features of assessment in sciences?

Assessment in the sciences will focus on children and young people’s knowledge and understanding of key scientific concepts in the living, material and physical world, inquiry and investigative skills, scientific analytical and thinking skills, scientific literacy and general attributes. Teachers can gather evidence of progress as part of day-to-day learning, and specific assessment tasks will also be important in assessing progress at key points of learning.

From the early years through to the senior stages, children and young people will demonstrate progress through their skills in planning and carrying out practical investigations, inquiries and challenges, working individually and collaboratively, and describing and explaining their understanding of scientific ideas and concepts. They will also demonstrate evidence of progress through their abilities and skills in reasoning, presenting and evaluating their findings through debate and discussion, expressing informed opinions and making decisions on social, moral, ethical, economic and environmental issues.

Approaches to assessment should identify the extent to which children and young people can apply these skills in their learning and their daily lives and in preparing for the world of work. For example:

• How well do they contribute to investigations and experiments?
• Are they developing the capacity to engage with and complete tasks and assignments?
• To what extent do they recognise the impact the sciences make on their lives, on the lives of others, on the environment and on society?

Progression in knowledge and understanding can be demonstrated, for example, through children and young people:

• providing more detailed descriptions and explanations of increasingly complex scientific contexts and concepts
• using a wider range of scientific language, formulae and equations
• presenting, analysing and interpreting more complex evidence to draw conclusions and make sense of scientific ideas.

They will demonstrate their progress through investigations, inquiries and challenges, and through how well they apply scientific skills in increasingly complex learning situations. For example, investigations and inquiries will become more evaluative, deal with an increasing range and complexity of variables, and involve collecting and analysing increasingly complex information.

Through developing these skills, children and young people will demonstrate growing confidence and enjoyment of the sciences. Assessment should also link with other areas of the curriculum, within and outside the classroom, to allow children and young people to demonstrate their increasing awareness of the impact of scientific developments on their own health and wellbeing, society and the environment.