Readings

Science GCSE largely a memory test

A working group which is looking at the effectiveness of science assessment would like to see more emphasis on the assessment of problem solving, investigative skills and teamwork.
The Assessment of Science Learning 14-19 Project was established to present findings on I the quality of current science assessment to the Tomlinson enquiry. The project is gathering evidence via a series of seminars and meetings.

Chris Harrison, a lecturer in science education at King's College, London, says: "At the moment, children are not being encouraged to stay on and do science and it seems to be the assessment process that has mainly turned them off." The present SATs and GCSE exam questions primarily treat science as a body of knowledge to be learned, as opposed to testing
problem solving, communication or investigative skills, she believes. "Schools spend a lot of time just getting kids ready for exams," says Ms Harrison. "1 frequently go into classrooms and hear teachers say, I 'Well 1 know you don't understand this, but just write it like that in the exam paper' .

"I'd want them to do things like teamwork, which is absolutely vital for scientists. In drama, which we've had a look at, they talk about their own and other people's contributions and how the whole process worked to get to the final production. Well it's not that much different in science and we'd like to see more of that sort of thing going on:"

Members of the project are optimistic about the 21st Century Science pilot, which is a set of new science GCSEs being put together by the Nuffield Curriculum Project, in collaboration with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the exam board OCR. The new courses cover the kind of everyday practical science I that students need to understand in order to be active citizens.

"I'd like to see that sort of approach lower down the school," says Ms Harrison. "For example they take a newspaper article and research the science behind it and assess whether they believe what is said in it and how it will affect society. Some of that may need to be done by teacher assessment as opposed to exams, but it need not take up a lot of time for teachers."

However, not all teachers agree that assessment needs to be drastically changed.
Michael Dagless, head of science at King Edward VI school in Northumberland, is not convinced by some of the project's findings. "The current exams certainly don't test teamwork and investigative skills, but I do think there's an element of understanding that is assessed in some GCSE questions. "Some of it is recall, but you wouldn't be able to understand the question if you didn't have some scientific understanding. 'The problem we've got is that if you want to do genuinely investigative work, then you've got to have very small science groups with a behaviour level that allows you to do practical work on a regular basis in an investigative way. "But we're looking forward to the 21st Century Science GCSE to see how that will work," he adds.

The Assessment of Science Learning 14-19 Project is funded by the Royal Society.

Katie Silvester
SecEd Issue 24
Dec 11th, 2003
www.sec-ed.com