Science Achievement Test Research Articles

Comparison of Taiwan Science Students' Outcomes With Inquiry-Group Versus Traditional Instruction

The authors examined the comparative efficiency of inquiry-group instruction and traditional teaching methods on junior high school students' achievement and attitudes toward earth science in Taiwan. A nonequivalent control group quasi-experimental design involving 16 intact classes was used. Treatment group students (n = 319) received an inquiry-group instruction; control group students (n = 293) received a traditional approach. Data collection instruments included the Earth Science Achievement Test and the Attitudes Toward Earth Science Inventory (S. L. Mao & C. Y. Chang, 1997). A multivariate analysis of covariance suggested that (a) students in the experimental group had significantly higher achievement scores than did students in the control group and that (b) there were statistically significant differences in favor of the inquiry-group instruction on student attitudes toward the subject matter.

Gender Differences on High School Science Achievement Tests: Do Format and Content Matter?

Gender differences on the NELS:88 multiple-choice and constructed-response science tests were explored through a combination of statistical analyses and interviews. Performance gaps between males and females varied across formats (multiple-choice versus constructed-response) and across items within a format. Differences were largest for items that involved visual content and called on application of knowledge commonly acquired through extracurricular activities. Large-scale surveys such as NELS:88 are widely used by researchers to study the effects of various student and school characteristics on achievement. The results of this investigation reveal the value of studying the validity of the outcome measure and suggest that conclusions about group differences and about correlates of achievement depend heavily on specific features of the items that make up the test.

Gender Differences on High School Science Achievement Tests: Do Format and Content Matter?

Gender differences on the NELS:88 multiple-choice and constructed-response science tests were explored through a combination of statistical analyses and interviews. Performance gaps between males and females varied across formats (multiple-choice versus constructed-response) and across items within a format. Differences were largest for items that involved visual content and called on application of knowledge commonly acquired through extracurricular activities. Large-scale surveys such as NELS:88 are widely used by researchers to study the effects of various student and school characteristics on achievement. The results of this investigation reveal the value of studying the validity of the outcome measure and suggest that conclusions about group differences and about correlates of achievement depend heavily on specific features of the items that make up the test.

Interview Procedures for Validating Science Assessments

This study investigates the usefulness of small-scale interview studies as a means to explore the validity of science achievement tests in several formats. Interviews and observations were conducted with 41 high school students taking multiple-choice and constructed-response science items, and with 49 fifth- and sixth-grade students completing hands-on science tasks. The procedure provided support for interpretations of subscales of achievement, identified some of the reasoning processes and sources of knowledge that students applied to the tasks, and revealed ways in which the strategies applied by successful and unsuccessful students differed. The importance of conducting small-scale, qualitative interview studies as part of the test validation process is discussed.

Performance-Based Assessments

By the time children in the United States reach seventh grade, half declare no interest in science (Office of Science and Technology Policy, 1991). Among girls, this disinterest appears to be particularly pronounced (S. Johnson, 1987; Jones, Mullis, Raizen, Weiss, & Weston, 1992). At the same time, girls’ and boys’ performances on standardized tests of science achievement begin to diverge with girls falling behind boys. This fact is well supported by numerous large-scale studies such as the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement or IEA (1988), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1970-1986 (Mullis & Jenkins, 1988), and the British Columbia Science Assessments (Bateson & Parsons-Chatman, 1989). In the science classroom, however, girls perform as well, or better than, boys (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). Therefore, standardized tests are thought to under-predict girls’ science achievement (Linn, 1991). Although this gender disparity has been attributed to several factors, there is considerable concern that the difference may be an artifact of the method of measurement (Bateson & Parsons-Chatman, 1989; Bolger & Kellaghan, 1990). That is, there is something about the test itself that puts girls at a disadvantage. Girls’ lower test scores, in turn, are thought to undermine their self-perceptions of competence, leading to their disinterest in science and eventual drop from the science “pipeline” (Oaks, 1990; Rosser et al., 1989). Included in the current reform rhetoric is the need to change the method by which we evaluate students’ achievements. To do so will “open gates of opportunity rather than close them off” (National Commission on Testing and Public Policy, 1990, p. x). The belief seems to be that by replacing traditional assessment methods with new alternative methods such as performance-based assessments, the gender bias in testing may be eliminated (Jenkins & MacDonald, 1989; National Center for Improving Science Education, 1989). This article begins by reviewing what we know about gender differences on traditional tests of science achievement and what is hoped to be gained by changing to performance-based assessments. Then, as an initial look at the effect of new forms of testing on males’ and females’ science achievement, their scores on performance-based assessments are compared. Finally, these findings are discussed in the context of science reform.

Science performance assessments: benchmarks and surrogates

This study examined the exchangeability of alternative methods for measuring science achievement at the elementary level. Observation of a student performing a hands-on investigation was considered to be the “benchmark” method for science performance assessments. Four less-costly methods — or possible “surrogates” for the benchmark — were, in order of decreasing verisimilitude: (a) A notebook report of an investigation, (b) a computer simulation of an investigation, (c) short-answer questions about an investigation, and (d) multiple-choice questions about an investigation. Exchangeability of each of the four surrogates for the benchmark was examined using three different investigations: “Electric Mysteries,” “Paper Towels,” and “Bugs.” One hundred and ninety-seven fifth- and sixth-grade students were given: (a) All investigations with each method, (b) a multiple-choice science achievement test, and (c) an aptitude test. Results of exchangeability analyses indicated that only the notebook provided a reasonable surrogate for the benchmark. This finding was replicated across the three investigations. Moreover, combinations of surrogates, including the multiple-choice science achievement test, failed to approximate information gained from direct observation of student performance, over and above information provided by the notebook surrogate.

Fast-Paced High School Science for the Academically Talented: A Six-Year Perspective

This is a 6-year study of academically talented students, 12 to 16 years old, who completed a 1-year course in high school biology, chemistry, or physics in 3 weeks at a residential summer program. Students demonstrated subject mastery by taking College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) science achievement tests. Their mean scores were higher than those of high school juniors and seniors. Also examined were the relationships between students' achievement in science and mathematical and verbal aptitude test scores, or age. Mathematical ability seemed to be a better predictor of science achievement than verbal ability. Except for biology, there was no significant relationship between achievement and age. Follow-up studies of achievement indicated that students aecelerated in science performed well in subsequent science courses at their regular schools. The study suggests that academically talented students could begin high school sciences earlier than is currently allowed in most American schools.

Evaluation of Procedure‐Based Scoring for Hands‐On Science Assessment

This article evaluates a procedure‐based scoring system for a performance assessment (an observed paper towels investigation) and a notebook surrogate completed by fifth‐grade students varying in hands‐on science experience. Results suggested interrater reliability of scores for observed performance and notebooks was adequate (>.80) with the reliability of the former higher. In contrast, interrater agreement on procedures was higher for observed hands‐on performance (.92) than for notebooks (.66). Moreover, for the notebooks, the reliability of scores and agreement on procedures varied by student experience, but this was not so for observed performance. Both the observed‐performance and notebook measures correlated less with traditional ability than did a multiple‐choice science achievement test. The correlation between the two performance assessments and the multiple‐choice test was only moderate (mean = .46), suggesting that different aspects of science achievement have been measured. Finally, the correlation between the observed‐performance scores and the notebook scores was .83, suggesting that notebooks may provide a reasonable, albeit less reliable, surrogate for the observed hands‐on performance of students.

A Method for the Construction of Differentiated School Norms

Empirical norms are traditional and accepted tools for reporting performance. Other methods (e.g., statistical regression) are used more often in a research context to make conditional statements about performance given a certain demographic context. This article illustrates two methods for the construction of differentiated school norms and the computation of percentile ranks for school mean achievement accounting for demographic background factors. These differentiated norms facilitate reports of performance that account for demographic conditions that are beyond the control of schools. A group-based method requires the explicit identification of similar schools. Each school is located at the median of its own norm group with regard to a socioeconomic status (SES) index. The other method uses residual scores obtained from a linear regression model as the basis for percentile ranks. These two methods are compared using science achievement test scores for a sample of 1,573 schools. The effects of varying ...

Alternative Technologies for Large Scale Science Assessment: Instrument of Education Reform1

ABSTRACT Educational reform in the United States has been stymied, in part, by the mismatch between curricular reform (with its emphasis on problem solving and process) and traditional accountability systems (with multiple‐choice tests, largely of factual recall). If teachers teach to the test, and they do, curricular reform is blunted. The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate alternative technologies for assessing science process understanding of elementary school students, technologies that align with curricular reform. Hands‐on science investigations and their surrogates (laboratory notebooks, computer simulation, paper‐and‐pencil exercises) were developed and then evaluated as to their reliability, validity, and utility for use in large scale assessment. In addition, each of the alternative technologies was compared with a traditional science achievement test. Evidence presented suggests that they are reliable, valid, and measure aspects of science achievement not tapped by traditional mul...

Science Achievement in Papua New Guinea: Cross-National Data Implications

In early 1988, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) published the first international results of the Second International Study (SISS), entitled Science Achievement in Seventeen Countries.' Begun in 1980, SISS is a comprehensive survey study of science education carried out in 24 countries. It is centered around a battery of internationally designed science achievement tests together with a series of measures of factors likely to influence such achievement. Malcolm Rosier provides an overview of the study from an international perspective.2 The IEA report presents initial science achievement data from the 17 countries for which SISS data were available in 1987. It is significant that participating SISS countries include those from the industrialized West and East as well as from the less industrialized South. The same inter-

Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students

AbstractIn an attempt to accelerate the development of formal operations in average young adolescents, intervention lessons relating to all formal schemata were designed in the context of school science courses. Over a period of two years, up to 30 intervention lessons were given by science teachers to their classes in eight schools. Boys who started the program aged 12+ showed a pre‐posttest effect size on Piagetian tests of 0.89 SD compared with control classes. In terms of British norms for the development of operational thinking this was a mean change from the 51st to the 74th percentile. Neither the middle school students nor the 12+ girls showed greater gain than the controls. Gains were shown by girls in one 11+ class and in the two 11+ laboratory classes. In the laboratory school students given intervention lessons by the researchers maintained their gains over controls in formal operations at a delayed posttest one year after cessation of the program. There was no effect on tests of science achievement during the intervention. It was argued that the interventions needed to be accompanied by in‐service training designed to enable teachers to change their teaching style in line with their students' increased operational thinking capacity.

Family and School Environmental Correlates of Integrated Science Achievement

Abstract This study was an investigation of the family and school environmental correlates of the Integrated Science achievement of 480 students. A 50-item Integrated Science Achievement test and the School Environment scales were administered to the students whereas the Family Environment scales were completed by their parents. A stepwise multiple regression procedure was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the nine measures of the family and school environments, when combined into a predictor set, effectively predicted the students' achievement. When taken separately, only three measures (parents expectations for the child, expectations for themselves, and the social status of the family) could not contribute significantly to the prediction. These observations provide support for the use of sociopsychological measures of the family and school to study cognitive outcomes instead of the traditional use of gross indicators of both learning environments.

Mathematically Talented Males and Females and Achievement in the High School Sciences

Mathematically talented youth, whether male or female, tend to have favorable attitudes toward science and to participate in the sciences at a level much higher than average. There were no overall sex differences in course-taking or course-grades in the sciences. Indications of sex differences favoring males, however, were found in participation in high school physics, the taking of and performance on high school and college level science achievement tests, and intention to major in the more quantitatively oriented fields of physics and engineering. No substantial sex differences in attitudes toward the sciences, except possibly physics, were detected. Overall attitude toward science did relate somewhat to participation in science. Moreover, sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability may explain some of the sex difference in science participation and achievement. These results may bear on why women are underrepresented in the sciences.

‘Science achievement and attitudes’ and the age of transfer to secondary school

Summary A specially prepared science achievement test, and a standard science attitude scale were used to assess some 2,757 pupils at the age of 14. The pupils compared had transferred from pre‐secondary to secondary schools at the ages of 11 (726 pupils), 12 (801 pupils) and 13 (1,230 pupils). It was shown that the pupils who transferred at 13 had scored significantly higher in the achievement test than those transferring at either 11 or 12, there being no significant difference between the latter. Regarding attitudes to science, pupils who transferred at 11 or 13 scored significantly higher than those who transferred at 12 when ‘interest in science’ was used as the main indicator of attitude to science.

A study of the perceptual orientation of community college students and their attitudes toward science as they relate to science achievement

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptual orientation and attitudes toward science of freshman community college students and the relationship of these characteristics toward science achievement. It was found that perceptual orientation (field independence‐dependence) was related to attitudes toward science. In addition, it was found that students who were field independent and possessed a positive attitude toward science scored significantly higher on the science achievement test than students who were field dependent and possessed a negative attitude toward science.

A Repeated Measures Investigation of the Relation of the School Motivation Analysis Test to Academic Achievement

Standardized tests of social studies, science, mathematics and reading achievement, along with questionnaire measures of intelligence and motivation, were administered three times, at 6-mo. intervals, to 109 girls and 149 boys enrolled in a central Illinois junior high school. With sex, intelligence and motivation treated as independent variables, 40 repeated-measures analyses of variance were computed to determine if these factors were associated with differential rate of gain in any of the four achievement tests. Significant main effects for intelligence, motivation, and occasions were found in each analysis. In comparison, interaction terms, suggesting differential change in level of achievement, were sparse and highly specific. With one exception, it was concluded that little differential growth occurred in the sample over the 12-mo. period.

Evaluation of science achievement and science test development in an international context: The IEA study in science

Evaluation of science achievement and science test development in an international context: The IEA study in science

A Reading-Free Science Test

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Reading-Free Science TestLeonard B. Finkelstein, and Donald D. HammillLeonard B. Finkelstein Search for more articles by this author , and Donald D. Hammill Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Elementary School Journal Volume 70, Number 1Oct., 1969 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/460541 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1969 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Inducing Children to Ask Questions in Solving Problems

An auto-instructional program was developed to induce question-asking behavior. Fifty-four grade six pupils in summer school science classes were employed under three experimental conditions. One group received instruction on the complete program; the second group received an emasculated version containing all the problems given to the first group but which afforded no training in question asking; a third group received no material. All subjects were given criterion tests before and after the instruc tional period. The results indicated that the pupils given the complete program asked significantly more questions on the criterion posttests, received higher scores on a science achievement test, and were rated superior to the other two groups in terms of participation in class discussion. A CENTRAL PART of all problem solving is the asking of questions. Questions may be directed at the obtaining of needed information, in cases where the information provided in the statement of the problem is insufficient for its solution. Questions may take the form of the testing of hy potheses, or of seeking clarification and sp?cifica tion of the problem in an effort to get ideas about its solution. Questions may be answered by out side sources of authority (e.g., teachers, books), or by observation and investigation ; or questions may be simply reflective in nature, serving to stimulate ideas and further inquiry. A basic handicap in problem solving suffered by many individuals is the failure to ask ques tions. This may result in premature and faulty inferences based on insufficient information, and in a paucity of solution ideas. Our observations of the problem-solving be havior of children in the typical school setting would seem to indicate a widespread deficiency in question asking. The deficiency may stem in part from the atmosphere of the large class which in hibits the individual child from freely asking many questions. It also may stem in part from a sheer lack of question-asking practice by the child, and training of the child in how to ask ques tions. That is, in part the deficiency may reflect the absence of a strong enough set or readiness to ask questions, and in part it may reflect the absence of an adequate skill in question asking. In light of these critical deficiencies we under took to develop and to test experimentally a method for inducing greater amounts of question asking by children in solving problems.1 This pro cedure was limited to inducing children to ask for additional information when they were given problems with insufficient information for solu tion. Our primary objective was to see whether the sheer volume of question asking could be ap preciably increased by such a method. Also, we were interested to see whether such an increased tendency to ask questions would transfer to cri terion problems outside of the experimental pro gram, and whether it would manifest itself in the child's general class performance. Assuming that such positive effects could be obtained, we also wished to determine whether the increased question asking would take the form of relevant questions, that is(, questions deemed ap propriate to the solution of the problem, and whether children of different basic ability levels would benefit differentially from such training. An auto-instructional program was used to in duce question asking by the school children. We chose this approach because we were interested to see whether we could succeed in facilitating question asking in an efficient and economical manner, permitting individualized instruction within the usual classroom setting. The auto-in structional method appears to us to have signifi cant potential for this and other kinds of training of high-level intellectual skills, though not?to be sure?as used in the usual fashion for the mastery of subject-matter material.