Standard+3.3.10

=Advise and assist colleagues to use the results of student assessments as well as practical and theoretical knowledge to evaluate teaching and learning programs. =

Reference provided by Mr Jonathan Saurine, Head of Science Kincoppal-Rose Bay School. [|Reference 3.3.10]

Our students regularly participate in the UNSW Science Competition. This is a well run competition which provides us with some excellent data but all too often it is filed away and forgotten.

The analysis of questions that is provided with the results is interesting and I felt that we should look at it in terms of where our teaching and learning strengths and weaknesses are. There can be difficulties in assessing our in house assessments as, in many ways, we are isolated in terms of the wider range of students and our expectations may, at times, be biased. Thus looking at an external assessment, especially one that is state wide can be very enlightening.

I looked at these results in terms of the:-
 * Skills
 * Performance compared to the state
 * Performance compared to the cohort as they progress through school
 * Performance of individuals in my class.

My [|analysis] formed the basis for discussion at a staff meeting [[|Minutes re ICAS Analysis Meeting]]. The main issues I raised were:-
 * What areas were our strengths?
 * What areas indicated weakness?
 * How can we use this information when planning programs or activities for our students?

There was particular concern for the year 9 cohort that would be sitting the School Certificate examination the following year. My analysis indicated that their knowledge of investigating skills and the use of the Scientific Method were lacking. We started providing, for them, School Certificate style practice questions.

Since that time, we have evaluated all our programs. One of the most important changes is that we have now included specific topics in years 7 and 8 [[|Yr 7 & 8 Program Overview 2012]] on experimental design and data analysis. These are based around a Student Research Project, in each year, and are well scaffolded. Year 7’s carry out an SRP in class based around a specific idea e.g. changing the boiling point of water. In Year 8 students can choose from a range of 6 topics. In Year 9 the students carry out an individual SRP of their own choice. Within our assessment calendar each year group has a Practical Assessment Task and a Data Presentation and Analysis Task [e.g. [|2012 Yr 9 Assessment Schedule], [|2012 Yr 10 Assessment Schedule]].