There is much interest in science courses in high school and student attitudes toward those courses. A valid and reliable instrument that measures such attitudes is not available. This study first developed and validated the Attitude toward Science in School Assessment (ATSSA). The instrument was used to evaluate the relationship between such attitude and achievement in science. A low correlation was found between attitude and various achievement tests. A moderate correlation was found between attitude and achievement that included an evaluation of the quality of work, as in a course grade.

The National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment (1994 draft) viewed several science processes as important to an understanding of science as inquiry: formulating usable questions, planning experiments, conducting systematic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, communicating, and coordinating and implementing a full investigation. This study is one of three undertaken to develop research rubrics for a performance assessment of science processes and to evaluate seventh-grade science students' ability to perform them. Specifically, this article focuses on the processes of recording data, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and providing evidence. A total of 364 students field tested the Alternative Assessment of Science Process Skills. Their responses were used to develop a research rubric, and then this rubric was used to determine response patterns that could inform both instruction and assessment of science process skills. Only 61% of students performed the activity and recorded data successfully. Sixty-nine percent of students did not attend to the hypothesis in drawing their conclusions. Eighty-one percent did not provide specific evidence for their conclusions. These results were discussed in light of relevant theories and models as well as their implications for instruction and assessment.

The development of reasoning skills, higher-level thinking skills, and science process skills are some of the benefits students can realize by participating in inquiry in the science laboratory. We used student responses to the Alternative Assessment of Science Process Skills (AASPS) developed by the Missouri Department of Education and the Department of Educational Assessment to develop the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI). The SPSI was then used to analyze student efforts at writing experimental designs. Our goal was to gain insight into factors that may be related to students successfully designing experiments. The instrument guides teachers and researchers in assessing seven main components of experimental designs. Each component consists of elements unique to the specific laboratory exercise. Subsequent to its development, the instrument was used to score 364 student responses to the "design an experiment" portion of an alternative assessment instrument for science process skills. Results indicate that explicit, incremental development of the science process skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables, together with model examples, may be a means to facilitate student success in designing science experiments. Implications for the classroom and for research are discussed.

This was a descriptive study of nine high school biology laboratory manuals to determine how well they promote the basic and integrated science process skills that are involved in scientific inquiry. A total of 90 activities were selected from the reviewed manuals in 11 topic areas. These activities included two subsamples of 5 experimental and 5 descriptive exercises. The lab investigations were evaluated for science process skills using a modification of Tamir and Lunetta's Laboratory Structure and Task Analysis Inventory. Results indicate that while some manuals have made efforts to include a few science process skills, they seldom call upon students to use their knowledge and experience to pose questions, solve problems, investigate natural phenomena, or construct answers or generalizations. These findings are discussed using a modification of Schwab and Herron's framework for inquiry. Suggestions are offered for modifying "cookbook" laboratories to promote student inquiry.

Path analysis techniques were used to test a hypothesized structural model of direct and indirect causal effects of student variables on science process skills. The model was tested twice using data collected at the beginning and end of the school year from 67 9th-and 10th-grade biology students who lived in a rural Franco-American community in New England. Each student variable was found to have significant effects, accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in science process skills achievement. Academic ability, biology knowledge, and language preference had significant direct effects. There were significant mediated effects by cognitive development, parents' education, and attitude toward science in school. The variables of cognitive development and academic ability had the greatest total effects on science process skills. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.