An Analysis of The Science Inquiry Items in Scholastic Ability Test for College

대학수학능력시험에서 과학탐구 영역의 분석

The Ministry of Education established the plan to adopt a new college enterance examination system, so called Scholastic Ability Test for college, from 1994. The National Board of Educational Evaluation had carried out 7 experimental trials for the new examination system. Eventhough, the governmental officials advertised the purpose and characteristics of the new examination system, many students and parents did not understand the essential point very well. In this study the researcher tried to analyze the 7 trial examination items and the first Scholastic Ability Test for college carried out 1993. In this study, the researcher tried to find out all the items appeared in the 7 trials. In the analysis, all the individual items from the 1st trial to the 7th trial were used. The research results showed that the items were evenly distributed in all the four areas(Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science) of science content; however, they were heavily concentrated on data or information analysis categoris in the inquiry domain. In the domain of context, laboratory context was the major item context. The scores were also analyzed. The results showed that no significant difference between male and female students. However, science track students showed higher achievement scores than the non-science track student. The examination result showed high correlation with the tests routinely have carried out in schools. The over all analysis showed the new examination system showed very different characteristics to the conventional tests. Therefore, for the student to get successful result in the Scholastic Ability Test, they should change the way of study. They should try to understand scientific concepts rather than to memorize them. They should invest their time to carry out real experiments rather than to focus on the princples and laws of science. One of the most important thing would be for the student to apply what they learned to real life situations.