Measuring student knowledge and skills

Areas of application of science for the assessment
of scientific literacy
Science in life and health
Health, disease and nutrition
Maintenance of and sustainable use of species
Interdependence of physical/biological systems
Science in Earth and environment
Pollution
Production and loss of soil
Weather and climate
Science in technology
Biotechnology
Use of materials and waste disposal
Use of energy
Transportation
Figure 16.
Areas of application of science for the assessment
of scientific literacy
Science in life and health
Health, disease and nutrition
Maintenance of and sustainable use of species
Interdependence of physical/biological systems
Science in Earth and environment
Pollution
Production and loss of soil
Weather and climate
Science in technology
Biotechnology
Use of materials and waste disposal
Use of energy
Transportation

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Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills
66
OECD 1999
respect the different values and traditions in participating countries. Feedback from field trials will be
used to ensure that situations chosen for the survey tasks are relevant and appropriate across the
different countries, whilst involving the combination of scientific knowledge with the use of scientific
processes.
By setting test items in these situations OECD/PISA is seeking to assess the application of knowledge
most likely to have been gained in the science curriculum (although some may be gained from other sub-
jects and from non-school sources). However, although the knowledge that is required is curricular knowl-
edge, in order to find out if this has gone beyond knowledge of isolated facts and is serving the
development of scientific literacy, OECD/PISA is assessing the application of that knowledge in items
reflecting real-life situations. Some of the examples of items presented below help to convey this point.