Author Description

Describes and presents results from the science component of the School Achievement Indicators Program, which was intended to examine how well Canadian students do in science and whether their achievements in science change over several years. The component involved testing of 13- and 16-year old students regarding their understanding of the relation between science and real-life situations familiar to them. Assessment methods included a written examination involving multiple-choice and constructed-response questions, as well as a practical exercise involving a simple experiment that tested their science inquiry skills. Evaluation criteria and examples of the assessments are presented along with summary results of achievements on a provincial and national basis. The results are compared to those of a similar 1996 assessment. The report also provides information on the context within which the students live & learn, as determined from questionnaires completed by the sampled students, science teachers, and school administrators.