Shifting Assessment Cultures in School Science.

We describe the methodology designed to develop, trial, and validate science inquiry assessment (SIA) tasks in schools with the intent of shifting school culture about assessment and inquiry skills. This research was complicated by the fact that targeted assessment of inquiry is not (often) practised in primary schools, such that the project aims were to include: development of instruments reflecting curriculum descriptors; validation in a practical sense of the possibility of organising and enacting inquiry activities; enticement of teachers to implement engaging inquiry activities; and attention to teachers' perceptions of inquiry skills and commitment to an assessment as distinct from an immersive inquiry program. In response to these multiple contextual constraints the refining and validation of tasks became an iterative process that relied on detailed methodology and careful data management.