The Science Unit Curriculum Directorate curriculumsupportcation.nsw.au/secondary/science/index.htm

1. The Science UnitCurriculum Directoratehttp://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/science/index.htm Using ESSA and ICT in the 7 - 10 Science classroom

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. The ESSA strands • Knowing and understanding • Planning and conducting investigations • Communicating • Critical thinking

8. 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.

9. Structure of an item Options Distracters Stem Key

10. Terminology foritems

11. 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

12. QUESTION 7How long does it take for the Moon to go once around the Sun? This response may be based on a student’s common experience of when the moon is visible or when the sun would appear 24.2% This response may indicate a student having a poor recollection of the movements of the moon around the Earth 4.0% This response may be based on a student’s knowledge or recollection of the movements of the moon around Earth. 13.9% This response would suggest an accurate knowledge of the movement of the moon and Earth around the sun. 56.2%

13. 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

14. Learning Federation Object Night and Day Moon Phase

15. QUESTION 51 - Fly Bait Investigation 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. Q Why was it necessary to control the amount of light received by the traps?

16. QUESTION 51Why was it necessary to control the amount of light received by the traps? This response suggests a poor understanding of control of a variable in relation to a fair test or what a variable is. 41.1% This response suggests a poor understanding of a fair test. 3.5% This response suggests a poor understanding that a fair test should ensure the control of variables. 18.9% This response suggests a good understanding that to produce a valid and reliable result a fair test should ensure the control of variables. 34.9%

17. Le@rning Federation Objects Fair Test

18. 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 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.

19. QUESTION 18The lamp’s main job in the circuit is to 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 interpretedas testing conductivity then this response is reasonable. This response may indicate the correct knowledge of a property of lamps but is not relevant to this question. Suggest knowledge that a lamp produces light and the recognition that this function can be used to indicate when the circuit is complete.

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

21. QUESTION 65Which of the following represents a simple food chain for the Round Island ecosystem? 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 This response suggests an understanding of the relationship between organisms in a food chain and the flow of energy in one direction. 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.

22. QUESTION 41Some scientists believe that water once flowed on the surface of Mars.What evidence of the water flow would scientists be looking for? 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 suggests a poor understanding of metamorphism of rocks. This response may be based on experience of water in the atmosphere but is not related to water flow.

23. 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.

24. One group of students obtained the following results • Using the information from the result table, describe what was happening in the first 9 minutes of the experiment. • Using your knowledge of the particle theory, explain why this happens.

25. THE PARTICLE THEORY OF MATTER ALIAS THE KINETIC MOLECULAR THEORY These theories are essentially the same. The Kinetic Molecular Theory emphasizes the movement of the particles. • All matter consists of extremely small particles. (A drop of water is made up of 30 billion billion (3 x 1019 ) particles of water.). • All particles of one substance are identical. • The spaces between particles are very large compared to the size of the particles themselves. • The particles in matter attract one another. • All particles of matter are constantly in motion.

26. 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?

27. 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. 

32. Solids, liquids and gases

33. The properties of matter

34. The Science UnitCurriculum Directorate http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/science/index.htm Ric Morante: richard.morante@det.nsw.edu.au Glen Sawle: glen.sawle@det.nsw.edu.au