Nursery rhyme - an assessment of primary technology capability across key stage 2

Assessment procedures in the traditional areas of of reading, writing and arithmetic are well known. This paper describes an assessment in technology and then quantifies the results obtained from over 200 pupils in key stage 2. The responses of the pupils' have been analysed by age and by gender. The activity was chosen as a typical primary technology activity in order to assess capability. It was presented as a series of focussed tasks, recorded by the children on a Design Sheet. Opportunity was provided for the children to exhibit their ability to reflect, critically appraise and to action their design intentions in a familiar classroom situation.There were few gender differences in capability. Age was a factor, with the younger children generally scoring less. The best scores were not in the oldest group and will be further investigated.