Clarification details
Updated March 2016. This document has been updated in its entirety to reflect a minor change in the Conditions of Assessment made by the Ministry of Education.
To reach Achieved standard students must:
- plan and carry out an Earth and Space Science investigation
- collect and process data from the investigation to produce a scientific report
- describe the Earth and Space Science related to the investigation.
The investigation must have a valid purpose, identify the independent and dependent variables and identify how other key variables will be managed. The investigation must be able to allow raw data, consistent with the method, to be collected.
A template should not be supplied, as this would be over-direction. The data collected needs to be processed, and this processing of the data must allow a conclusion to be drawn. Processing can include graphs, tables or a statistical analysis of the data.
Students are required to carry out the investigation to collect primary evidence. They will then use their findings to describe the Earth and Space Science related to the investigation. This critical component must be covered before awarding the final grade.
Background information to the investigation, which may include research, experiments, videos, etc., may be supplied by the teacher, and can include primary and/or secondary information. The teacher can set the broad outline for the investigation and the students develop the purpose, the method and carry out the investigation. The investigation may include a field trip.