Assessing Progress in Science at KS3

QCA. London: QCA, 2003. £35

This publication will be very useful to all Key Stage 3 science teachers and any teacher who wants to use more formative assessment in their work. It comprises ten 'unit' booklets (Key Stage 3 content, spanning Scl-4) with a teacher's guide. The publication has been designed to give teachers guidance on 'assessment for learning' principles.


The teacher's guide gives the rationale behind the publication; which is that continuous formative assessment is needed to improve pupils' understanding of key stage 3 concepts. Formative assessment can help teachers design their lessons to help pupils address misconceptions as they arise. The teacher's guide, like all of the subsequent units, is well written, concise and full of informative pupil exemplar material. Key Stage 3 performance levels and level statements are clearly summarised in the ten units.

Each unit is broken up into assessment activities, with pupils' responses to these activities clearly analysed and discussed. Guidance is given as to how evidence gathered from examining pupil responses to the activities can be used to make formative and summative assessments. The assessment activities themselves are not particularly exciting, but the idea is to gather and exchange new formative assessment ideas from practising teachers, via a website at www.cripsat.org.uk. (The website is well worth a visit, although I could not find any mention of the formative assessment exchange scheme.) This might result in the creation 01' a very useful resource and is to be commended. As an experienced key Stage 3 teacher there was nothing particularly new in the publication, but it did make me think about the importance of formative assessment and it clearly outlined techniques that I feel I can use immediately in my teaching, An excellent and essential resource for all those engaged in Key Stage 3 science teaching.

Stephen Hearn

School Science Review, September 2004, 86(314)

Key Stage 1 pack

Scientific enquiry
Living things in their environments
Materials
Forces
Electricity
Light and sound
Teacher's guide

Key Stage 2 pack

Scientific enquiry
Living things in their environments
Materials
Forces
Electricity
Light and sound
Solids, liquids and gases
Human body
Teacher's guide

Key Stage 3 pack

Scientific enquiry
Living things in their environments
Materials
Forces
Electricity
Light and sound
Solids, liquids and gases
Human body (1)
Human body (2)
Metals and non-metals
Teacher's guide