Formative assessment of young students’ abilities in science

The Swedish school curriculum and syllabi are goal driven and a lot of freedom is given to the teachers. School marks have not before 2012 been given until school year eight. From the government there is now a demand for earlier assessment and grading. As part of such a development Kristianstad University together with Malmö University have been given the task to produce a formative assessment material in science for school years one to six. Rubrics and exercises to assess abilities in science have been produced. The team producing the material has decided to follow what happens to science teaching during the implementation of such a material. Questionnaires, observations and interviews have been used to collect data. The results from a questionnaire used in the autumn 2009 show that the science taught in the early school years in Sweden is mostly within the biology area. At the conference a presentation of the first ideas from teachers, students and researchers on the effect of using formative assessment material in science will be given.