Making progress in science from Levels 1 to 4 - Dunedin

Free PLD workshop, funded by the Ministry of Education

• What does progress in science look like from Level 1 to 4?
• How can progress be assessed?
• What can teachers do to help their students?
• What can whānau do to help their children?

These free workshops address these questions using recent findings from the 2017 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) in science. From the findings, four resources have been produced that introduce and explain student progression between Level 1 to 4.

In the workshops, we will work together to explore these resources. This includes unpacking insights from the NMSSA study by exploring a range of tasks used in the study and the student responses. We will also look at how the tasks connect to the science capabilities and discuss what and why certain understandings are important in science at different levels.

Participants will receive a copy of all four new resources.

1. Science guide for teachers for Levels 1 and 2, 3, 4 and 4 and above (poster resources). These explain what students understand about science and could be learning within each Level.
2. What children are learning in Science: A guide for whānau provides whānau with ideas for supporting their children’s science learning in school.
3. Insights for Teachers provides practical insights into the items assessed in the study, including what was being looked for and why.
4. Understanding Progress from Levels 2 to 4 uses information and data from the NMSSA science assessments to create indicators of progress. These indicators are displayed in a “rainbow diagram”. The report also explains the progressions using student examples.

Science 2017 NMSSA reports available at: https://nmssa.otago.ac.nz/reports/

100% of teachers attending the workshops in 2019 said it was useful or very useful in supporting them to teach science.

Delivered by Lorraine Spiller and Sandy Robbins from NZCER. The workshops are supported by the Ministry of Education.

Where and when will the workshops be?

18 workshops accross the country.

Choose either a morning or an afternoon session. 
The morning session will run from 9.00am to 11.30am, morning tea provided.
The afternoon session will run from 1.30pm to 4.00pm, afternoon tea provided.
Numbers are limited to 40 per workshop, up to three participants per school.