The assessments included one task which asked students to consider how and why people organise themselves to perform particular functions, and four tasks which involved them in working through processes for identifying and addressing certain issues and problems.

One task was substantially the same for both year 4 and year 8 to the extent that it is appropriate to present the results for both years together. Of the remaining four tasks, three were attempted by year 8 students only, and one by year 4 students.

Two 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:

All of the tasks in this chapter show wide ranges of achievement, from highly capable to very limited performances, by both year 4 and year 8 students.

In Working together, most teams at both year 4 and year 8 handled the process of rule formulation well, although many did not score so well on processes of team collaboration and discussion. The results for Roller blades showed that about half of the year 8 teams were reasonably successful in problem clarification and management, whereas the other half struggled. Interestingly, a high percentage of year 8 students showed that they have moderate to poor ideas and understandings about the roles of leaders and basic processes and functions of New Zealand's parliament. The results for Link task 4 showed that a good percentage of year 4 teams were able to offer appropriate strategies for dealing with a problem situation. Attempting Link task 5, about half of the year 8 teams were able to present an argument or case with moderately strong to very strong effect.