Classroom Context: Curriculum/Coursetaking

As part of the 2009 science assessment, teachers of fourth- and eighth-graders were asked how much time they spend on different areas of science. The full text of the question, percentage of students whose teachers responded in each category, and scale scores of students for each response category are below.

In this class, about how much time do you spend on each of the following areas of science?

A. Life science
B. Earth and space sciences
C. Physical Science

Grade 4

Grade 8

Grade 12

Percentage of Students

Average Scores

Twenty-eight percent of fourth-graders had teachers who spent "a lot of time" teaching Earth and space sciences.

Time spent	None	Little time	Some time	A lot of time
	Percentage of students
Earth and space sciences	4	11	57	28
Life science	3	10	54	34
Physical science	3	11	57	29

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Some apparent differences between estimates may not be statistically significant. See complete data for Earth and Space Sciences, Life Science, and Physical Science.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.

Browse questionnaires for the NAEP assessments.