The evidence about attainment in science across primary and secondary education presents a very mixed and quite complex picture. The situation is complicated by a number of factors, including the lack of national assessment data for 5-14 Science, which make it more difficult to monitor standards over time. As pupils progress through secondary education, they can choose to study one or more science subjects, including biology, chemistry and physics. Again, this makes it more difficult to track the progress of cohorts of pupils over time.

Overall attainment is:

• relatively strong from P1 to P4 and in the separate sciences at S3 to S6; and
• in need of significant improvement in Science at P5 to S2 and in Standard Grade Science at S3/S4.

Evidence from earlier AAP science surveys indicated that standards had been particularly disappointing at P7 and S2. The AAP 2003 survey in science enabled some comparisons to be made of attainment at P7 and S2. Overall, the results again showed no evidence of significant improvement from 1999 in pupils' performance at Levels C, D or E. This comparison between 1999 and 2003 needs to be treated with a degree of caution as, in the intervening period, changes were made to the national 5-14 guidelines for science and the assessment tasks used in the two surveys were not entirely compatible. Nonetheless, the broad indication is that no significant improvement had occurred nationally. In the 2003 TIMSS survey, Scotland's mean score was significantly above the international average at both P5 and S2. However, at P5, the mean score in science was significantly lower than it was in 1995 and, at S2, it had not improved significantly.

In the PISA 2003 survey of scientific literacy amongst 15-year-old pupils, Scotland scored well above the OECD mean and was placed in the top third of OECD countries. SQA results over recent years indicate that, overall, pupils continued to perform well in Standard Grade and NQ courses in the separate sciences. In sharp contrast to this, however, results in Standard Grade Science remained unacceptably low.

Evidence from inspections showed considerable scope for improvement in pupils' attainment in science. This was particularly the case at the later stages of primary school and in S1/S2. In primary schools and in secondary schools in S1/S2, the overall quality of attainment was found to be good only in the majority of schools and it was seldom very good. It showed some important weaknesses in around 40% of primary schools and 33% of secondary schools. When compared with standards reported by HMI during the period 1995-2000, the figures show a small overall improvement in primary schools and an even smaller improvement in S1/S2. The situation had worsened in Standard Grade Science where the overall quality of attainment had important weaknesses in 39% of schools compared with 25% of schools in 1995 to 2000.

A good measure of the effectiveness of a secondary science department is given by the proportion of the S3 cohort who choose to study one or more science subjects and who subsequently go on to achieve success at an appropriate level based on their prior attainment. Effective departments tend to have a high uptake, reflecting good quality course provision and teaching at earlier stages. Pupils also tend to achieve well. Science departments can use this uptake factor to monitor and evaluate changes in subject and course popularity and achievement over time.

Features of attainment at different stages

Pupils at P1 to P3 were generally making good progress in developing knowledge, understanding and skills appropriate to their stage. For example, they could group similar materials and relate their basic properties to everyday uses. They could describe the growth of plants and some could explain the life-cycles of familiar animals. In some schools, pupils were able to give examples of forces, including the behaviour of magnets. Supported by their teacher, they could carry out simple practical investigations quite well, observing main features and changes, and recording their findings as a picture or display.

Pupils at P4 and P5 often showed good knowledge and understanding of the science they had covered, which was usually appropriate to their stage of development. For example, they could often name and describe planets of the solar system, outline the water cycle, and sort animals into main groups. They often knew more about specific forces such as friction and gravity, and some could build and explain simple electrical circuits. Pupils were beginning to carry out investigations with greater independence, and recording their findings more often in written and numerical form using formats provided by the teacher. They were beginning to appreciate the need for fair testing.

Pupils at P6 and P7 often performed well in their coursework, but this often did not represent a significant enough advance on what younger pupils were achieving. They could usually explain a wider range of scientific ideas, such as how water could be purified, or how plants reproduced and benefited the environment by producing oxygen. In some schools, pupils showed well-developed understanding of the basic properties of electricity, light and sound, and how different forms of energy could be inter-converted. In general, however, pupils had limited understanding of energy and forces. By these stages, pupils were generally more confident in applying the basic practical skills of observation, measurement and recording. The majority of pupils could now explain how to conduct a fair investigation although they often had limited experience of carrying out such investigations.

Pupils at S1 and S2 often performed well, and sometimes very well, in their coursework but again this was often insufficiently demanding. They displayed satisfactory knowledge and understanding across some of the main areas of science, and had acquired a considerable vocabulary of scientific terms. However, there were often significant weaknesses in their understanding of key areas of modern science, including genetics and heredity, evolution, microelectronics and aspects of the universe and space exploration. Most coped well with basic practical work which involved the following of instructions and the use of a variety of scientific equipment. Pupils' skills of observation and measurement, and in recording their results using given formats, were often good. The majority of S2 pupils were aware of the need to 'be scientific' when carrying out experiments, for example by controlling variables and repeating measurements. There were, however, weaknesses in pupils' experience and understanding of planning, carrying out and interpreting open-ended investigations.

Features of attainment at S3/S4

• From 2000 to 2004, entries in Standard Grade biology had increased by 2%. In chemistry, entries had declined by 7%, in physics by 5% and Science by 46%. The decrease in entries for these courses, and particularly Science, was largely accounted for by the substantial increase in numbers of S4 pupils presenting for Access and Intermediate courses. (Figure 1)
• At Intermediate 1, the total entries in biology, chemistry and physics had increased substantially from 70 in 2001 to 5300 in 2004. Over the same period, entries at Intermediate 2 had increased from 40 to 1680.

• At Standard Grade, the proportion of pupils presented who gained grades 1-2 (Credit) in biology, chemistry, physics and Science over the period from 2000 to 2004, showed no significant trends. (Figure 2)
• On average, around 90% of pupils presented in biology, chemistry and physics achieved grades 1-4 (Credit and General) in Standard Grade while around 60% achieved these grades in Science. There were no significant trends.
• At Intermediate 2, overall success rates were high in 2003 and 2004, with on average, 85% of entries in biology, 81% in chemistry and 92% in physics achieving A-C grades.
• At Intermediate 1, the average percentage of pupils achieving A-C grades in 2003 and 2004 was 52% in biology, 48% in chemistry and 45% in physics.
• The number of pupils attaining Access 3 passes in biology, chemistry or physics by the end of S4 increased from around 200 in 2002 to 1400 in 2004.

Features of attainment at S5/S6

• Over the past five years, entries at Higher in science subjects had declined. In biology, including human biology, entries had decreased by 4%, in chemistry by 7% and in physics by 6%. Entries in other sciences, including geology and biotechnology, remained very low. (Figure 3)
• Between 2000 and 2004, the proportion of pupils achieving A-C grades at Higher had shown a steady improvement in biology and human biology, but varied only slightly from year to year in chemistry and physics. (Figure 4)

• 'No Awards' at Higher had shown a decline over the past five years in biology, human biology, chemistry and physics. On average, these accounted for 20% of presentations in biology and human biology, 15% in chemistry and 17% in physics.
• Between 2000 and 2004, entries at Advanced Higher and CSYS (in 2000) had shown a significant increase in all three sciences. Entries increased by 26% in biology, by 11% in chemistry and by 29% in physics. (Figure 5)
• From 2001 onwards, performance at Advanced Higher had been consistently good, with around 75% of pupils presented achieving A-C grades.
• From 2000, entries for Intermediate 1 separate science courses in S5/S6 had increased initially, then tended to decline in 2004. Biology had the highest uptake with 181 entries in 2004, while numbers presented for Intermediate 1 courses in chemistry, physics, geology and MER remained relatively low.
• The proportion of S5/S6 pupils achieving A-C grades at Intermediate 1 averaged 78% of presentations in biology, 73% in chemistry and 70% in physics.
• At Intermediate 2, entries for biology, chemistry and physics had shown a steady increase from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, uptake was high with about 4000 entries for biology, 1500 for chemistry and 1900 for physics. Entries for geology, MER and biotechnology remained very low. (Figure 6)
• At intermediate 2, the proportion of S5/S6 pupils achieving A-C grades in 2000 to 2004 averaged 62% in biology, 60% in chemistry and 58% in physics

Main areas for improvement

Despite many examples of good attainment observed in individual schools and lessons, significant weaknesses were observed in too many cases.

In many primary schools there was a lack of attention to progressively developing pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills. As a consequence, there were common weaknesses in pupils' skills of practical investigation, including planning, observing and measuring, and recording, presenting and interpreting their findings. Sometimes, teachers gave too little attention to ensuring that pupils observed and measured accurately. This made the drawing of conclusions and the advancement of pupils' learning more difficult. Significant gaps were often evident, too, in pupils' knowledge and understanding of key aspects of science, particularly in the area of energy and forces. Even where school science programmes were better developed, pupils were still under-achieving. This was usually because tasks were not appropriately matched to their prior attainment, or because pupils' learning was not being revised and consolidated.

In S1/S2, courses generally provided better progression in pupils' knowledge and understanding. However, many schools were failing to develop pupils' understanding of key areas of contemporary science and were therefore failing to prepare them for the science they would encounter as citizens of the 21st century. Teaching approaches often restricted pupils' initiative and independence in carrying out practical investigations, and skills of planning and interpreting results were generally less well developed than other practical skills. Whilst most pupils performed well in the work they were given and some achieved high standards, not enough of them were achieving their potential. The most common reasons for this were:

• insufficient account taken of pupils' previous learning and attainment, including what they had already learned in primary school;
• some tasks set for pupils were either too difficult for them or insufficiently challenging; and
• insufficiently high teacher expectations of the pace of pupils' learning and of the quality of presentation of their written work.

In S3/S4, around half the pupils presented for Intermediate 1 courses did not achieve a course award at grades A-C although they may have gained success in individual units. Where schools had replaced Standard Grade Science with Intermediate 1 courses, teachers had not always ensured that sufficient account was taken of pupils' prior attainment or learning needs. In Standard Grade Science, only around 5% of pupils gained a Credit level award, reflecting a lack of exposure to learning outcomes at this level.