The assessments included 7 tasks, four of which asked students to consider how and why people's individual or collective actions might affect relationships with others or features of the environments in which they live and work. The other three tasks asked them to consider some of the causes and consequences of change and environmental differences on people's lives.

Two tasks were identical for both year 4 and year 8. One task had identical content for both years, but the method for recording student responses changed from year 8 to year 4. The other three tasks were attempted either by year 4 or by year 8.

Three tasks 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:

Year 8 students were more successful than year 4 students on both Legends and Ripeka, although many students at both levels had difficulty with identifying and interpreting important messages that lay behind the surface of the situations they were asked to consider. The gap between results for year 4 and year 8 was generally small on Refugees, and many teams of students appeared to lack confidence and skill in identifying and distinguishing some key features of different social and cultural environments. The year 8 task, Drinking fountain, showed that a large percentage of students (39%) were judged unable to present worthwhile strategies for addressing an issue requiring social action. Link task 1 showed that a high number of students need help with developing skills of identifying the merits of both sides of a situation and then forming fair, balanced conclusions. In Link tasks 2 and 3 students at both levels showed that they need help to develop their skills of examining and reaching understandings about likely implications of living in distinctly different environments.