IBSE Final

108 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 5 Science Teaching and assessing Students’ Scientific literacy

steps. The construction of evidence-based arguments and communications also

requires critical thinking and abstract reasoning.

An example for Proficiency Level 6 and the competency Explaining Scientific

Phenomena is Question 5 of Greenhouse. Students must analyze a conclusion

to account for other factors that could influence the greenhouse effect. A final

example from Greenhouse centers on the competency Using Scientific Evidence

and asks students to identify a portion of a graph that does not provide evidence

supporting a conclusion. Students must locate a portion of two graphs where

curves are not both ascending or descending and provide this finding as part of

a justification for a conclusion.

Acid Rain serves as an example of a science unit containing embedded ques-

tions that query students’ attitudes. Question 10N in Acid Rain probes the level

of students’ interest in the topic of acid rain, and Question 10S asks students

how much they agree with statements supporting further research.

Students’ Knowledge About and Attitudes Toward Environmental and Resource Issues Responses to Cognitive Items About Resources and Environments

Through review and classification of PISA 2006 units in terms of natural resources

and environments, we identified 10 units and a total of 32 items. Approximately

one-third of the contextual situations on PISA 2006 Science included resources

and environments. Proficiency levels for the items ranged from 1 through 6,

with the majority of items at Levels 3 and 4. Acid Rain and Greenhouse serve as

examples (see the appendix). For U.S. students, the average correct percentage

overall for the environment and resource items versus the average percentage

on the remaining 71 items was 46.74% versus 52.76%. The comparative percent-

ages for OECD countries were 50.25% versus 54.56%. The United States did not

perform as well, but this may be a reflection of the type of question.

We also looked at the percentage of students at each proficiency level who

responded correctly to the items. For example, for Question 5 on Greenhouse:

What percentage of Level 6 students answered this correctly? (Answer: 53%)

Another example from Acid Rain: What percentage of students at Level 4

answered this question correctly? (Answer: 51%)

U.S. Students’ Awareness of Environmental Issues

PISA 2006 surveyed students’ awareness of selected environmental issues. As

you can see in Table 5.5, the majority of U.S. students (73%) reported being aware

of the consequences of clearing forest for other land uses. This percentage was

the same as the OECD average. Just more than half of U.S. students are aware of

acid rain, the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and nuclear waste.