The Science Unit Curriculum Directorate Using ESSA and ICT in the 7 - 10.

The Science UnitCurriculum Directorate

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/science/index.htm

Using ESSA and ICT in the

7 - 10 Science classroom

• Curriculum Directorate

The Science Unit – supports the teaching and

learning of science – provides advice to assist

schools with syllabus implementation

• EMSAD(Educational

Measurement and School Assessment Directorate)

– Developing and managing state wide literacy, numeracy and computer skills assessments, and meaningfully reporting results

– Establishing rigorous, progressive self-evaluation processes consistent with the school accountability and improvement model

What is the ESSA test?

• a diagnostic tool

• administered in Year 8

• based on syllabus outcomes

• a pen and paper test for the 2005 and 2006 pilot tests

• takes about 75 minutes

The ESSA test• Two extended answer tasks, each requiring

about a paragraph of writing

• 75 multiple choice and short answer tasks, which draw on contexts and some content in a stimulus magazine

• Questions over a range of performance levels

• Every question linked to a syllabus outcome and content statement

• Each question linked to an ESSA strand and performance level

ESSA’s scope• The focus of assessment will be the outcomes

and their associated essential content as described in the BOS Science Years 7–10 Syllabus.

• A range of outcomes from the Prescribed Focus Areas and the Domain will be assessed. Questions will give students the opportunity to demonstrate their understandings of both local and global levels. The practical component will assess the skills employed in performing first-hand investigations.

Resources from ESSA…

rich data about student performance in science through the SMART package and reports to parents

assessment items and teaching strategies available to teachers

The ESSA strands

• Knowing and understanding

• Planning and conducting investigations

• Communicating

• Critical thinking

Focusing on a concept helps

• Each ESSA test will collect information about how students develop understanding of scientific concepts.

• As teachers, getting a better understanding of how students develop scientific concepts will help us to provide opportunities for them to increase their knowledge and understanding of those concepts.

Structure of an item

Distracters

Stem

Options

Key

Terminology for items

Stem either a question or an incomplete statement presenting the problem for which a response is required

Options all the choices in an item

Key the correct answer

Distracters the incorrect options

The diagram below shows the relative movements of Earth and the Moon around the Sun. It is not drawn to scale.

Question 7 : Sun, Earth and Moon

QUESTION 7How long does it take for the Moon to go once around the Sun?

% response

Distracter Analysis

Option 1 1 day

Option 2 1 week

Option 3 1 month

Option 4 1 year

24.2%

4.0%

13.9%

56.2%

This response may be based on a student’s common experience of when the moon is visible or when the sun would appear

This response may indicate a student having a poor recollection of the movements of the moon around the Earth

This response may be based on a student’s knowledge or recollection of the movements of the moon around Earth.

This response would suggest an accurate knowledge of the movement of the moon and Earth around the sun.

• The major idea or science concept– That objects in the universe exert a force of gravity on

one another – That the moon orbits the earth and together they

revolve around the sun

• Possible misconceptions– That the sun rises each day on the moon as it does

on Earth and that this must mean that it takes one day to travel around the sun

– That the moon travels around the sun in the same time that it takes to travel around the earth

– That the moon rises each night just as the Sun rises each day

Learning Federation Object Night and Day

Moon Phase

QUESTION 51 - Fly Bait Investigation

Q Why was it necessary to control the amount of light received by the traps?

Two Year 8 students were conducting an investigation to find out which bait attracted the most flies.

They constructed fly traps from old PET drink containers to catch flies.

QUESTION 51Why was it necessary to control the amount of light received by the traps?

% response Distracter Analysis

Option 1 Sunlight is essential to attract flies

Option 2 This was a mistake. It should have been different

Option 3 The amount of sunlight has no influence on the result

Option 4 If this were changed then the cause of the result would not be known

41.1%

3.5%

18.9%

34.9%

This response suggests a poor understanding of control of a variable in relation to a fair test or what a variable is.

This response suggests a poor understanding of a fair test.

This response suggests a poor understanding that a fair test should ensure the control of variables.

This response suggests a good understanding that to produce a valid and reliable result a fair test should ensure the control of variables.

Le@rning Federation Objects

Fair Test

QUESTION 16The students observed that the object labelled X jumps up and sticks to the soft iron rod whenever the lamp glows. Object X does this because it is made of

% response Distracter Analysis

Option 1 iron 63.7%

Option 2 wood 1.2%

Option 3 plastic 2.2%

Option 4 aluminium 32.3%

This response would suggest a correct understanding that the force of a magnetic field will attract some metals such as iron.This response may indicate a poor understanding of the effect of the forces of a magnetic field. This response may indicate a poor understanding of the effect of the forces of a magnetic field.

This response would suggest a possible misunderstanding that magnets attract all metals or students have incorrectly remembered a practical where they tested various materials for the ability to conduct electricity that used similar equipment.

QUESTION 18

The lamp’s main job in the circuit is to

% response Distracter Analysis

Option 1provide a connection 16.2%

Option 2produce heat and light 20.8%

Option 3use up electrical energy 8.4%

Option 4show that the circuit is working

53.7%

The lamp is essential to the circuit. If students incorrectly interpreted this experiment as testing conductivity then this response is reasonable.

Indicates knowledge of the functions of a lamp but has not recognised its application to this problem. If experiment interpreted as testing conductivity then this response is reasonable.

Suggest knowledge that a lamp produces light and the recognition that this function can be used to indicate when the circuit is complete.

This response may indicate the correct knowledge of a property of lamps but is not relevant to this question.

QUESTION 22The piece of granite has a mass of 30 g. Use the diagram to find its volume. What is the density of the granite?

% response Distracter Analysis

Option 10.3 g/cm3

8.9%

Option 23 g/cm3

28.2%

Option 310 g/cm3

38.2%

Option 430 g/cm3

23.2%

This response suggests that the student has used the correct formula but performed incorrectly the calculation of 30÷10

This response suggests the use of the correct formula and the correct performance of the calculation.

This response suggests the use of the mass of the granite as the value for density.

This response suggests correct measurement of the value for volume and then its use as the value for the density.

QUESTION 65Which of the following represents a simple food chain for the Round Island ecosystem?

% res Distracter Analysis

Option 1

insect --> skink --> gecko --> boa 29.3%

Option 2

boa --> gecko --> insect --> palm 22.1%

Option 3

palm --> insect --> skink --> boa 36.6%

Option 4

palm --> boa --> gecko --> insect 8.9%

This response suggests a lack of the conventional understanding that a food chain begins with a producer.

Suggests an understanding that organisms are related but a poor understanding that a food chain represents a flow of energy

Suggests an understanding that a food chain begins with a plant/producer but a poor understanding of the flow of energy in a food chain.

This response suggests an understanding of the relationship between organisms in a food chain and the flow of energy in one direction.

QUESTION 41Some scientists believe that water once flowed on the surface of Mars.What evidence of the water flow would scientists be looking for?

% response Distracter Analysis

Option 1

patterns of erosion 49.7%

Option 2

weathering of rocks 30.4%

Option 3

metamorphism of rocks 6.8%

Option 4

a thick and heavy atmosphere

11.6%

This response suggests an understanding that the flow of water creates particular distribution patterns of erosion.

This response suggests a poor understanding that weathering does not necessarily indicate the flow of water.

This response may be based on experience of water in the atmosphere but is not related to water flow.

This response suggests a poor understanding of metamorphism of rocks.

Extended answer tasks - Heating ice

• A science class was doing an experiment to observe temperature changes when heating ice.

• Each group started the experiment with four cubes of ice and a small amount of water in a beaker.

• They heated the beaker, with constant stirring, over a low Bunsen burner flame as shown in the diagram below.

• They measured the temperature every minute and recorded the results in a table.

One group of students obtained the following results

a) Using the information from the result table, describe what was happening in the first 9 minutes of the experiment.

b) Using your knowledge of the particle theory, explain why this happens.

THE PARTICLE THEORY OF MATTERALIAS

THE KINETIC MOLECULAR THEORYThese theories are essentially the same. The Kinetic Molecular Theory emphasizes the movement of

the particles.1. All matter consists of extremely small particles. (A drop

of water is made up of 30 billion billion (3 x 1019 ) particles of water.).

2. All particles of one substance are identical.3. The spaces between particles are very large compared

to the size of the particles themselves.4. The particles in matter attract one another.5. All particles of matter are constantly in motion.

Heat, Temperature, and the

Particle Theory

• What actually is the difference between water at 20ºC and water at 50ºC?

• What is the difference between heat and temperature?

• How are these questions related?

• Can any one hypothesis answer both questions?

Heat and Temperature

So what is the difference between heat and temperature?

• According to the particle theory, heat is energy, and it is transferred from hotter substances to colder ones.

• Temperature is a measure of the average energy level of the particles in a substance. 

Solids, liquids and gases

In solids the particles

In liquids the particles

In gases the particles

are held tightly and packed fairly close together - they are strongly attracted to each other

are fairly close together with some attraction between them

have little attraction between them

are in fixed positions but they do vibrate

are able to move around in all directions but movement is limited by attractions between particles

are free to move in all directions and collide with each other and with the walls of a container and are widely spaced out

The properties of matterSolids Liquids Gases

have a definite shape do not have a definite shape

do not have a definite shape

maintain that shape flow and fill the bottom of a container. They maintain the same volume unless the temperature changes

expand to fill any container

are difficult to compress as the particles are already packed closely together

are difficult to compress because there are quite a lot of particles in a small volume

are easily compressed because there are only a few particles in a large volume

are often dense as there are many particles packed closely together

are often dense because there are quite a lot of particles in a small volume

are often low density as there are not many particles in a large space

The Science UnitCurriculum Directorate

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/science/index.htm

Ric Morante: [email protected]

Glen Sawle:

[email protected]