Science inquiry is a critically important aspect of the science curriculum.
Students need to be introduced to inquiry practices to be able to conduct high quality investigations. These resources offer two tasks per year level to facilitate an annual assessment protocol that delivers rich and comprehensive – and curriculum linked – assessment support.
The original version of the SIA tasks were developed in-house by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) staff and were used in the DET Primary Mathematics and Science Specialist (PMSS) program to assess students’ growth in science inquiry. Following those first implementations of the SIAs, the Deakin team progressively modified the tasks to streamline their structures and develop assessment rubrics for science inquiry. In 2018, a major revision and update was conducted and the SIAs are represented for easy access via the website https://science-inquiry-assessment.edu.au/
The SIAs tasks are developed for F-6 – with two for each level. Tasks map to the relevant curriculum outcomes and come with descriptions, equipment lists, powerpoint instructions for students, and assessment supports such as student work samples and rubrics.
Are you interested in professional learning for you or your school to learn the insights about assessing the science inquiry curriculum outcomes in the primary years? If so, please email: amanda.peters@deakin.edu.au. Please also contact Amanda if you are interested in the SIAs for secondary.
Below is the SIA assessment overview for each level.
