Assessment of Achievement Programme: Report of the Sixth AAP Survey of Science (2003)

Appendix D: Pupils' learning activities and views

The tables that follow present the results of the pupil questionnaire enquiries, broken down by stage. The statements that appear in the table are abbreviated versions of the statements that the pupils in the survey actually responded to - the full texts and original presentation order are shown in the reproduced questionnaire in Appendix C.

When reviewing the data, readers should bear in mind that rather low proportions of schools returned pupil questionnaires - 30 of 86 invited schools at S2, 40 of 83 at P7 and 47 of 80 at P5.

Table D.1 Activities with family adults

(% pupils giving each frequency: 1270 pupils - 498 P5, 436 P7, 336 S2)

Spend time with family adult(s)…	Stage	Most days	Most weeks	Once /month	2-3 times /year	Hardly ever
..watching TV/videos	S2	63	22	9	2	4
	P7	58	24	10	2	6
	P5	57	26	6	3	8
..listening to music	S2	61	15	7	5	12
	P7	57	20	7	2	14
	P5	54	20	9	2	15
..talking about school work/progress	S2	45	33	11	3	8
	P7	49	25	12	3	11
	P5	57	25	6	4	8
..talking about free time activities	S2	43	22	11	3	21
	P7	47	22	8	2	21
	P5	48	27	7	3	15
..playing sport/games, or keeping fit	S2	43	25	14	6	12
	P7	52	26	9	3	10
	P5	57	24	10	2	7
..talking about films/TV programmes	S2	38	36	12	4	10
	P7	37	29	15	3	16
	P5	33	29	14	4	20
..talking about news events	S2	19	34	17	5	25
	P7	19	33	14	6	28
	P5	18	29	15	4	34
..on outings/visits to places/events	S2	13	28	32	17	10
	P7	13	33	31	12	11
	P5	15	37	29	12	7
..reading or talking about books	S2	14	19	17	9	41
	P7	23	23	15	4	35
	P5	29	25	12	5	29
..at the cinema	S2	4	21	40	19	16
	P7	4	15	44	20	17
	P5	5	14	40	24	17
..at the theatre, concert or dance	S2	4	6	16	30	44
	P7	3	4	12	34	47
	P5	6	7	14	33	40

Table D.2 Activities within science lessons

(% pupils giving each frequency: 1270 pupils - 498 P5, 436 P7, 336 S2)

Activity…	Stage	Most lessons	Most weeks	Each term	Rarely
..taught as a whole class	S2	85	12	2	1
	P7	72	21	5	2
	P5	85	14	3	1
..writing in jotter/file	S2	86	11	2	1
	P7	64	23	8	5
	P5	71	17	7	5
..working quietly alone	S2	47	32	14	8
	P7	40	37	16	6
	P5	58	24	13	5
..completing worksheets	S2	61	30	7	2
	P7	67	24	6	3
	P5	60	33	6	1
..reading text/reference books	S2	44	39	12	5
	P7	35	34	21	10
	P5	38	39	15	8
..making/using maps, diagrams..	S2	36	38	20	6
	P7	34	42	19	5
	P5	31	37	25	7
..talking about topic with others	S2	38	41	16	5
	P7	49	37	11	3
	P5	43	42	11	4
..watching video/audio tapes	S2	15	42	35	8
	P7	18	27	39	16
	P5	19	36	35	10
..working with a partner	S2	50	35	11	4
	P7	31	44	23	2
	P5	32	44	20	4
..working in a group	S2	37	42	17	4
	P7	38	47	14	1
	P5	37	39	19	5
..working in school grounds	S2	20	13	33	34
	P7	18	15	39	28
	P5	15	20	42	23
..talking one-to-one with teacher	S2	17	31	30	22
	P7	15	25	30	30
	P5	19	26	32	23
..handling objects/artefacts	S2	26	43	22	9
	P7	22	36	32	10
	P5	22	40	27	11
..using tools/instruments	S2	38	44	15	3
	P7	24	36	25	15
	P5	23	34	28	15
..working at computer alone	S2	6	10	29	54
	P7	13	24	32	31
	P5	18	31	29	22
..working at computer with partner	S2	7	10	40	44
	P7	11	34	33	23
	P5	17	31	32	20
..taught in small group	S2	12	27	38	23
	P7	19	29	39	12
	P5	27	34	31	8
..visiting places outside school	S2	4	6	21	69
	P7	6	11	40	43
	P5	9	10	52	30

Table D.3 Statements bearing on the nature of teaching and learning

(% pupils giving each response: 1270 pupils - 498 P5, 436 P7, 336 S2)

In science:	Stage	Yes, always	Mostly	Not usually	No	Don't Know
we learn a lot of facts	S2	36	57	7	0	0
	P7	33	59	8	0	0
	P5	47	47	6	0	0
learning is about asking 'Why?' and 'What if?'	S2	21	48	20	3	8
	P7	25	46	27	2	0
	P5	30	45	19	5	1
everyone has a chance to say what they think	S2	42	41	11	4	2
	P7	55	35	8	2	0
	P5	55	36	6	3	0
we are asked to explain our answers to questions	S2	36	49	12	1	2
	P7	27	59	13	1	0
	P5	37	47	11	5	0
pupils get extra help when they need it	S2	44	35	12	3	6
	P7	44	37	14	5	0
	P5	51	37	8	4	0
everyone is expected to work hard	S2	74	20	5	1	0
	P7	75	19	4	2	0
	P5	79	16	4	1	0
It is easy to concentrate and work hard in class	S2	22	55	16	6	1
	P7	27	51	18	4	0
	P5	34	47	15	4	0
pupils hand in their work on time	S2	12	65	17	4	2
	P7	22	64	13	1	0
	P5	31	49	17	2	1

Table D.4 Statements bearing on pupils' motivation to learn

(% pupils giving each response: 1270 pupils - 498 P5, 436 P7, 336 S2)

In science:	Stage	Yes, always	Mostly	Not usually	No	Don't know
I want to do well	S2	74	20	2	2	2
	P7	66	25	7	2	0
	P5	83	14	2	1	0
I work hard on topics and investigations	S2	46	46	6	2	0
	P7	44	49	5	2	0
	P5	57	37	5	1	0
we discuss interesting ideas and topics whenever they come up	S2	27	46	22	3	2
	P7	36	48	14	2	0
	P5	40	48	11	1	0
we get interesting topics and investigations to do	S2	20	57	17	5	1
	P7	30	53	13	4	0
	P5	45	42	11	2	0
learning is important because it will help with other subjects later on	S2	43	39	9	3	6
	P7	52	36	10	2	0
	P5	67	29	3	1	0
learning is important because it will help me to get a good job later on	S2	50	31	9	4	6
	P7	47	35	13	5	0
	P5	67	22	8	3	0
My family think this is an important subject	S2	38	33	13	3	13
	P7	37	36	21	6	0
	P5	54	31	10	3	2
I look forward to lessons	S2	16	35	30	18	1
	P7	29	32	24	15	0
	P5	47	28	17	8	0
Pupils settle down quickly at the start of lessons	S2	10	47	27	15	1
	P7	21	57	19	3	0
	P5	27	46	19	7	1
I enjoy books about this subject and life in other countries	S2	12	23	40	25	0
	P7	17	27	34	22	0
	P5	34	35	21	10	0

Table D.5 Statements relating to teacher and self assessment

(% pupils giving each response: 1270 pupils - 498 P5, 436 P7, 336 S2)

In science:	Stage	Yes, always	Mostly	Not usually	No	Don't know
I find it easy to understand	S2	25	54	15	4	2
	P7	16	61	16	6	1
	P5	24	59	14	3	0
we go through the work too slowly	S2	4	14	59	22	1
	P7	3	16	51	30	0
	P5	6	18	41	35	0
I get behind with the work	S2	5	8	65	20	2
	P7	3	11	59	27	0
	P5	5	16	58	21	0
It is hard to catch up if I miss a lesson	S2	14	24	47	10	5
	P7	16	21	52	11	0
	P5	28	30	33	8	1
the info. we get about progress is given as levels, grades and test scores	S2	53	36	4	1	6
	P7	19	26	38	17	0
	P5	17	30	30	22	1
most of the assessment is done in short tests	S2	21	53	21	1	4
	P7	15	34	41	10	0
	P5	19	33	35	12	1
our corrected work shows us where we have gone wrong	S2	48	37	11	3	1
	P7	44	45	10	1	0
	P5	62	31	6	1	0
we are shown how to improve our work	S2	27	43	22	4	4
	P7	32	38	26	4	0
	P5	44	37	16	2	1
we help to plan what we are going to do next	S2	15	25	41	14	5
	P7	14	28	46	12	0
	P5	19	25	39	17	0

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