Science Assessment Map – Sample at 2.75
Energy changes: making things work!
Students were asked to investigate energy changes that take place in everyday appliances and to record their findings as a combined visual and text representation. Students were asked to observe examples of appliances in the classroom and/or home and to identify what energy changes or transformations occurred for the appliance to work. They used pre-prepared cut-out images of appliances or made their own drawings in recording their findings in a table. They demonstrated their conceptual understanding of energy transformation and scientific word skills and literacy in explanations of energy transformation and in preparing their octagon-o-verse. Students were given the equivalent of 90 minutes in one or two sessions for the activity.
The task required students to understand energy as something that causes something to happen or to make things work, and to be familiar with movement, sound, light and electricity as different forms of energy. Students are expected to have had some experience in organising information in tables and in following instructions.
The elements of the Science knowledge and understanding dimension of the standard addressed by the task are:
(Students) identify forms of energy and energy transformations in the everyday world. They use appropriate scientific vocabulary to describe and explain their observations and explanations.
The element of the Science at work dimension of the standard addressed by the task is:
(Students) … use a range of appropriate methods to record observations …
The following work sample, and the related Science 2.75 progression point example, illustrate the kinds of response that students produce as they progress towards the Level 3 standard.
Science knowledge and understanding – 2.75
- Demonstrates a clear knowledge and understanding of energy transformation in many of the examples of everyday appliances surveyed.
- Some confusion and/or misconceptions are evident in sequencing of some descriptions of energy transformation: eg D
- Clear understanding that energy may be converted into multiple forms of energy at one time was not demonstrated: eg A
- Appropriate scientific vocabulary is used in most instances in descriptions and explanations. Some inadequacies eg B
Science at work – 2.75
- Generally comprehensive series of observations made grouped according to the senses used: eg C, E
- Observations and descriptions are recorded in appropriate cells of a given table as images (drawings) and text.
- Potential for use of flow sequences (arrows) to represent energy transformation, but not used.
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