: Introduction

The assessments included seven tasks which asked the students to find and use particular information embedded in resources which were not books. The resources used were:

One task was identical for both year 4 and year 8. Two tasks had overlapping versions for year 4 and 8 students, with some parts which were common to both levels and others which were added for the year 8 students.The remaining four tasks used the computer and encyclopedia software. One of these was attempted only by year 4 students, the other three were attempted only by year 8 students.

Two tasks (the poster task with overlapping elements for year 4 and year 8 students, and a computer task for year 8 students) have been selected as link tasks (to be used again in the year 2001), and therefore are not described in detail here. The other tasks are released tasks for which full details are given.

The chapter presents the assessment tasks in the following order:

Both year 4 and year 8 students achieved substantial success in these tasks. On the task components common to both year levels, about 20 percent more year 8 students than year 4 students achieved success. The success of most students in using the laptop computer and encyclopedia software is noteworthy: they approached the computer tasks with enthusiasm and often considerable confidence, and had high levels of success with most components of these tasks.

Students had least success when the pathway to finding the information was indirect, or when the task required substantial interpretation or summarising of information as well as finding that information.