NEMP Reading and speaking results 2008

National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP), University of Otago Reading and Speaking assessment results 2008 are now available.

Both year 4 and year 8 students showed greater skill in reading words accurately (decoding) than in interpreting and acting on the messages they were reading (comprehension). Performance was quite weak in scanning for information...

…Reading has become a less popular activity outside of school, especially for year 8 students. Reading books (both fiction and non-fiction) has declined markedly in popularity compared to reading magazines and comics.

Read more at: http://nemp.otago.ac.nz/read_speak/2008/index.htm

Maps

I noticed in Take Note Kerikeri a two pack of large laminated maps - one of New Zealand, one of the world, for $20. It reminded me of a great activity that Robyn at Oruaiti School did, where she taped a map of NZ to the large table in the non-fiction area and then put a relevant book on display or made a "quiz" - find Lake Taupo, which island is Christchurch on, find 5 towns beginning with W, etc. It was as popular as Where's Wally ! You could make it a competition where the week's entries go in a box for a draw, or it could be a different question each day... Robyn changed the maps each term.

I read an interesting article* about how three schools used NEMP assessment tasks to help them with their own in-school assessment. One school in Otago was concerned that their pupils' NZ map knowledge was limited due to comparatively few opportunities for travel and they used a NEMP Social Studies task "The Map" to assess pupils' knowledge of the location of 11 prominent places in NZ... Surprisingly, some students struggled to place their own home town on a map, though a relatively high proportion identified the location of Waitangi following on from a teaching unit on the Treaty... The school developed strategies for their teaching as a result of this information. If you google this title "using NEMP assessment tasks in the classroom" it will be the first result that comes up as a PDF.

*Eley, L. & Hague, R. (2002). Using NEMP assessment tasks in the classroom: Three schools’ experiences. New Zealand Principal, 17(4), 23–29.

Science in the Library

NEMP reports on Science and Visual arts were sent to schools in Term 4 2008. In the science report, one area of concern was the huge increase in the number of Year 8 students expressing a dislike of science…
How can the library rekindle the interest in the scientific world ? Resources - there are so many great science books ! but also displays, activities, experiments, visitors etc
See also this article in School Library Journal Mad scientists by Jennifer Prince about a science programme run in a library to great effect...
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA406676.html?q=mad+scientists
Both the books full of science activities mentioned in this article are available from National Library Curriculum Information Service (CIS).