BRIEF SCIENCE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION ON 8TH GRADE STUDENTS

This paper aims to provide some statistics concerning the science performance of a group of 59 8th graders, studying in three different classes (may be regarded as different study groups). Eight science items were used, two from each content domain: chemistry, biology, mathematics and physics. These items were taken from the 2007 edition of the TIMSS test and slightly adapted. Students were graded separately for a correct answer and for the explanation why they chose/gave the answer. Results of the applied test are presented in a graphical format. The authors did not develop a grading system and did not use the one provided by the TIMSS documentation because the number of items used is mall, and a parallel between the results in this study and the TIMSS would not be valid. A very good percentage of the students chose/gave the correct answer but a much lower percentage provided the correct and complete explanation for this answer. Also, from the interpretation of the results it seems that boys score slightly higher than girls and that the mathematics content was more accessible.