Junior Science: Thinking with Evidence is a standardised science assessment designed for use in New Zealand schools available for students to sit through a subscription with NZCER Assist.
It is explicitly linked to two aspects of The New Zealand Curriculum: the Nature of Science strand of the science learning area (which embeds the science capabilities), and one of the key competencies–thinking.
Students are asked to think critically about and use evidence from a range of interesting contexts of relevance to New Zealand students. Read the online manual to get started.
Get the most out of this assessment by registering for one of our PLD workshops.
Features of Junior Science: Thinking with Evidence
- three tests designed for students in years 4, 5, and 6
- complements the existing Science: Thinking with Evidence tests for Years 7-10
- completed online in NZCER Assist
- marked automatically
- reports generated automatically
- reports designed to be used formatively
- supported with next steps
Example question from the first test in the series:
NOS: Communicating in science
Science capability: Interpret representations
Students need to be able to: Read and interpret a simple form of a graph.
Why is Junior Science: Thinking with Evidence online only?
Students can only sit this assessment online. Some of the advantages of online testing are:
- Immediate access to NZCER Assist's range of reports.
- 100% accuracy in marking.
- More engaging for students – the online testing platform allows colourful stimulus material and a range of interactive question types.
- Ability to adapt the test platform, such as dyslexia fonts and other assistive technologies.
- Allows students to sit tests on computers, laptops and tablets as small as the iPad mini, anywhere, anytime.
- Easier for young students, - no need to transfer information from a book to a differently formatted answer sheet.
- Huge time saving in administration.
- It's cheaper – no need to purchase paper tests or answer sheets
Teacher manual
Read the online teacher manual to find out all about the tests and how to use them.
For more information or question about the tests, contact assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz.
For more information and advice
Our science team has collated a list of queries from schools in this Frequently Asked Questions document.
For advice about the use of this test or others, including possible workshops, next steps and conversations around making sense of your school assessment, contact our team at assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz or check out our solutions and knowledge centre.
We can also provide advice directly related to the NZCER Assist service (subscriptions, setup, technical, data and reports).