Review of Science Level 1 achievement standards

FIELD SCIENCES

Review of Science Level 1 achievement standards

Subfield Science

Domain	Id	Subject reference
Agricultural and Horticultural Science	90156	Agricultural and Horticultural Science 1.1
Biology	90161, 90162	Biology 1.1, 1.2
Chemistry	90169, 90170	Chemistry 1.1, 1.2
Physics	90180, 90181	Physics 1.1, 1.2
Science Core	90186, 90187	Science 1.1, 1.2

The Ministry of Education and the Secondary Education Group Assessment business unit of NZQA have completed a review of the achievement standards listed above that were registered in October and November 2003.

New Registration date October 2004

Date new versions published October 2004

Planned review date March 2006

Summary of review and consultation process

After the first year of use all achievement standards are reviewed. When Level 1 achievement standards were reviewed as part of this planned cycle, it was decided that the above standards should not be altered. The reason for this is that there had been little information available from moderation processes of these particular standards on which to base a review. It was decided to review of these standards again in 2004 after a further year of implementation.

· Initial feedback and comments were collated from teachers/schools, moderators, the National Assessment Panel, professional development facilitators, material developers and other stakeholders.

· This information was reviewed by subject experts and recommendations were made in March 2004.

· The recommendations were sent out for consultation to subject networks, including teachers, assessors, moderators, facilitators and advisors in May 2004.

Main changes resulting from the review

The review process has resulted in the following modifications to the achievement standards:

· AS90156, AS90161, AS90169, AS90180, AS90186 the achievement criteria have been reduced to one to improve fitness for purpose without altering the intent of the standard. Corresponding changes have been made to the explanatory notes.

· AS90162, AS90170, AS90181, AS90187 the title of each has been changed, and the achievement criteria have been reduced to one to improve fitness for purpose without altering the intent of the standard. Corresponding changes have been made to the explanatory notes.

Impact on existing provider accreditations

None.

Impact on existing qualifications

None.

Impact of changes on NCEA Exclusions List

None.

Summary of main changes to achievement standards" Ids, classification, titles, levels, and credits

The following summary shows the changes made to the achievement standards as a result of the review. All changes are in bold.

Key to review category
A	Dates changed, but no other changes are made the replacement achievement standard carries the same Id and a new version number
B	Changes made, but the overall outcome remains the same the replacement achievement standard carries the same Id and a new version number
C	Major changes that necessitate the registration of a replacement achievement standard with a new Id
D	Achievement standard will expire and not be replaced

Subfield Science

Id	Domain	Title	Level	Credit	Review Category
90156	Agricultural and Horticultural Science	Carry out a practical agriculture or horticulture investigation with direction	1	4	B
90161	Biology	Carry out a practical biology investigation with direction	1	4	B
90162	Biology	Research, with direction, how biology and technology are related Process information to describe a use of biology knowledge with direction	1	2	B
90169	Chemistry	Carry out a practical chemistry investigation with direction	1	4	B
90170	Chemistry	Research, with direction, how chemistry and technology are related Process information to describe a use of chemistry knowledge with direction	1	2	B
90180	Physics	Carry out a practical physics investigation with direction	1	4	B
90181	Physics	Research, with direction, how physics and technology are related Process information to describe a use of physics knowledge with direction	1	2	B
90186	Science Core	Carry out a practical science investigation with direction	1	4	B
90187	Science Core	Research, with direction, how science and technology are related Process information to describe a use of science knowledge with direction	1	2	B

Key to review category

A