Assessing scientific skills

Scientific skills assessment maps

Assessment maps for tracking scientific skills for Years 7 to 9. These can be used by students and teachers to track progress of being able to carry out some specific scientific skills.

Lessons can be planned to develop specific skills and assessment maps used to record students’ progress towards mastering them. The codes link to the scientific skills listed in the mapping document available. Each student is given an assessment map to keep in their book. When they demonstrate mastery of a specific skill, the teacher, student or partner ticks the relevant skill on their assessment map. The following assessment maps were made in collaboration with Katharine Barber.

You will want to improve upon these maps by unpicking further what some of these general statements mean. For example, what exactly underpins ‘skilful technique’? By doing this work with your department, you will develop a shared sense of what ‘great’ looks like. (PDF)

  1. Apparatus and techniques in science 
  2. Assessing scientific skills
  3. Drawing graphs in science
  4. How science works
  5. Numeracy for science
  6. Scientific investigations
  7. Revision for science exams