TIMSS 2018/19: Science Year 5 Publications
Publication Details
This report describes the science achievement of Year 5 students in TIMSS 2018/19. Analyses of achievement by sub-groupings (such as gender and ethnicity) and background information are also presented and comparisons are made with New Zealand across cycles and also with other countries. Characteristics of teachers, including their preparedness to teach science, teaching activities that took place within science lessons, resources, and teacher attitudes and perceptions, as well as the school climate for learning, are explored.
Author(s): Educational Measurement and Assessment, Ministry of Education.
Date Published: December 2020
Key Findings
Science achievement of New Zealand Year 5 students since 1994 - 24 years of trends
- The average (mean) science achievement of New Zealand Year 5 students in 2018 was similar to 2014 and also similar to that of the students 24 years ago in 1994.
- New Zealand Year 5 students' mean science achievement in 2019 was significantly1 higher than 23 countries, but lower than the mean score of 31 countries.
Classifying New Zealand Year 5 students as low to advanced performers
- Six percent of New Zealand Year 5 students were classified as advanced performers (reached the advanced benchmark), while 12 percent of students were classified as below low performers who did not perform simple science tasks.
- New Zealand's proportion of Year 5 advanced performers was the same as the international median. The New Zealand proportion of those not reaching the low benchmark was higher than the international median. However, the top five high-performing countries had at least 15 percent of their students classified as advanced performers, and three percent or fewer classified as below low performers.
- The proportion of Year 5 students reaching each benchmark is about the same as in 2014 but the proportions are lower compared with 2002.
Strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand Year 5 students within science
- New Zealand Year 5 students showed greatest strength in Life Science compared to Physical Science and Earth Science. The average scores for each content domain are not significantly different from 2014.
- New Zealand Year 5 students did significantly better at knowing compared to applying in science but the average score for reasoning while similar to the overall average was lower than in 2014.
TIMSS and the New Zealand science curriculum
- Many New Zealand Year 5 students were working at level 2 of the curriculum by the end of the year, rather than level 3. Not surprisingly, those students in classes working at higher levels had higher science achievement.
- When the TIMSS test was compared to curriculum expectations for New Zealand Year 5 students, there were questions considered more advanced than our curriculum. More advanced questions help to identify advanced achievers. However, when the test was reduced to contain only those appropriate to New Zealand Year 5 students, the average score was similar to the average for all questions and New Zealand’s position relative to other countries remained the same.
Science achievement of Year 5 boys and girls
- Year 5 boys and girls had the same science achievement as each other, on average, but boys had a wider range than girls. Year 5 girls had similar achievement to 1994 but boys are significantly lower than 1994.
- In 2019 girls achieved higher on Life science, with no significant gender difference on Physical Science or Earth Science. Girls achieved higher on reasoning and there was no significant difference for the cognitive domain areas of knowing and applying.
Science achievement and socio-economic status of Year 5 students
- Students in homes with many resources for learning had higher science achievement, on average, than those whose homes had fewer resources.
- Science achievement was higher, on average, for students in schools with more affluent students than those in schools with more economically disadvantaged students. The difference in science achievement between these two groupings within New Zealand was a lot higher than the international average.
Footnote
- The word 'significant' is used to describe statistical significance. Statistical tests show that these results are 95% certain.
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