A friend who participates in opposition to high stakes testing sent out an email Tuesday evening. With her permission I will be posting the information from the sample questions (released from previous examinations) for the Standards of Learning test for 8th grade science. She was going through this material with her 7th grade son. Read each question CAREFULLY.
I have posted her email without editing, except (a) to separate each question into a separate box, and (b) use html to show the italics. I have also put the question in bold and reformatted a bit. Read, enjoy, comment or recommend as you will
I wanted to share some of the questions from the 8th grade science test. I'm sorry the graphics aren't viewable in e-mail. To see more of the questions, you can download them from the VA DOE website. We'll be downloading them because I want to compare them from year to year and see what kinds of questions get repeated.
Question 1 is a black and white line drawing of footprints: one is three toed, one is chicken feet looking, one is basically round and medium; one is tiny
and round and has one toe. The footprints go across a piece of land; there are a few footprints of each type, as though the dinosaurs (because that's what the question says they represent) walked across the area. Question: The picture shows dinosaur tracks found in rocks. How many dinosaurs left their tracks here?
Answer:
a 2
b 4
c 14
d 24
Question 2: The kangaroo rat is able to get all the water it needs through the food it eats and, therefore, never needs to drink liquids. The animal has adapted to survive in which biome?
ANSWER:
a forest
b tundra
c desert
d grassland
Question 3: Many scientists believe that nuclear fusion will become a possible source within the next 10 years. What resource would be most effective in tracking the progress of this energy source?
ANSWER:
a local newspaper
b chemical encyclopedia
c physics textbook
d scientific periodical
Question 4: there is a chart with five planets (earth, jupiter, mars, mercury, venus) listed in the left hand column. The right hand column tells their distance in miles from the sun. question: According to this chart, which planet will most likely have the highest temperatures?
ANSWER:
a earth
b mars
c mercury
d venus
question 5: The time in which the Earth makes one revolution around the sun is approximately one___.
ANSWER:
a year
b season
c month
d day
Just thought you'd enjoy pitting yourself against the renowned high standards of Virginia's Standards of Learning. Accountability is a happening thing. And with these high level questions, I'm sure that future scientists are being bred.
