Assessment and investigation of science laboratory skills among year 5 students

Abstract

In line with the current interest in alternative and authentic assessment, this study focused on the evaluation of students' performance on science laboratory process skills. A sample of 147 year 5 students from six schools responded to laboratory process skills tests which assess investigating, performing and reasoning in the content areas of biology, chemistry and physics. The data were analysed to provide information about students' overall practical performance and to identify specific preinstructional conceptions and erros. An investigation of predictors of laboratory performance revealed significant associations between performance and amount of homework done and students' perceptions of several aspects of the classroom environment (personalisation, investigation and organisation). The gender differences commonly found in science achievement were absent when laboratory performance was used as the criterion.