National: Eighth-graders score higher in 2011 than in 2009.

State: Eighth-graders in 16 states score higher than in 2009.

To investigate the relationship between academic achievement and various contextual factors, NAEP collects information from teachers about their classroom activities. One of the questions on the teacher questionnaire for grade 8 asked them to indicate how often their science students did hands-on activities or investigations. Explore this contextual factor by navigating through the slides for the nation and states.

Hands-on Science Activities: Grade 8 Nation

Slide 1:
Overall, eighth-graders in the nation’s public schools scored higher on NAEP science in 2011 than in 2009. In 2009, the average scale score was 149, significantly different (p < .05) from the score of 151 in 2011.

Slide 2:
Students who did hands-on science activities once or twice a month or once or twice a week scored higher than in 2009. Average scores in science by teacher-reported frequency of doing hands-on activities were as follows:

• Students who never did hands-on activities scored 137 in 2009 and 140 in 2011.
• Students who did hands-on activities once or twice a month scored 144 in 2009, significantly different from the score of 147 in 2011.
• Students who did hands-on activities once or twice a week scored 151 in 2009, significantly different from the score of 153 in 2011.
• Students who did hands-on activities every day or almost every day scored 154 in 2009 and 155 in 2011.

Slide 3:
In 2011, approximately 98 percent of eighth-graders in the nation’s public schools had teachers who reported that their students did hands-on science activities at least once or twice a month.

• Two percent of students never did hands-on activities.  
• Twenty-four percent of students did hands-on activities once or twice a month.
• Fifty-seven percent of students did hands-on activities once or twice a week.
• Seventeen percent of students did hands-on activities every day or almost every day.

Slide 4:
Higher scores in science were related to higher frequencies of doing hands-on activities; the stepwise average scores shown in the chart are statistically different across each response category.

• The average score for students who never did hands-on activities was 140.  
• The average score for students who did hands-on activities once or twice a month was 147.
• The average score for students who did hands-on activities once or twice a week was 153.
• The average score for students who did hands-on activities every day or almost every day was 155.

Overall Science Results: Grade 8 State

Slide 5:
In the 2011 science assessment, eighth-graders in the following 28 states scored higher than their public school peers in the nation: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.  Students in the following 15 states and the District of Columbia scored lower than the nation: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. Students in Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia scored no different than the nation.

Slide 6:
Among the 28 states that had higher scores than the nation in 2011, the proportion of students whose teachers reported hands-on activities occurring at least once a week ranged from 56 (North Dakota) to 92 percent (Colorado). The proportion of students whose teachers reported hands-on activities occurring at least once a week was

• between 26 and 50 percent in Hawaii, Mississippi and Oklahoma;
• between 51 and 74 percent in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah; and
• between 76 and 100 percent in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa,  Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

Explore these results further, along with other contextual factors.