Science inquiry is increasingly recognised as a critically important aspect of a science education. Students need not only to be introduced to the concepts of science through which we understand the world, but also to the inquiry practices through which science has investigated and established this knowledge.
For students to be literate in interpreting and using science in their lives, they need to be aware of how science operates. This is increasingly important in these times of unlimited access to social media and the fake news that can be promoted.
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Often, with practical activities in science, the focus is on illustrating concepts without special attention to developing investigative practices. Even with activities where students develop their own inquiries or aspects of these, the particular inquiry practices are often neither independently focused on nor assessed, reducing the opportunity to systematically develop students’ capabilities with inquiry.
The science inquiry assessment (SIA) tasks have three aims to support teachers and students with teaching, learning and assessing inquiry. The SIA tasks provide exemplar inquiry activities that can develop students’ inquiry practices in contexts that engage their interest. They clarify the meaning of different aspects of science inquiry practices. The SIAs provide the tools for assessing student inquiry at different points in the primary years. These can be used to track student inquiry learning over time.
The tasks are mapped to science curriculum, specifically science inquiry skills located within current Victorian and Australian Curriculum. The tasks are matched to different year levels and covering a range of inquiry practices. Clear rubrics provide support for assessment, differentiated across the learning continuum. The SIA tasks are applied across years F – 6 assessing relevant outcomes.
Each SIA task includes teacher notes, teaching slides, student worksheet and assessment rubrics.
These inquiry assessment tasks have three aims:
- To help teachers and students clarify the meaning of different aspects of science inquiry practices; what these involve and how they might be recognised and assessed as a progression. They can help develop for teachers a language to discuss science inquiry practices and outcomes.
- To provide the tools for assessing student inquiry at different points in the primary years. These can be used to track student inquiry learning over time.
- To provide exemplar inquiry activities that can develop students’ inquiry practices in contexts that engage their interest. These can be used to stimulate the development of further inquiry activities in a range of topics.
