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Content and student factors in mastering environmental studies - nature in

primary education: evidence from a national assessment in Flanders
(Belgium)
Rianne Janssena; Marion Crauwelsb
a
Center for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation and Research Group Quantitative Methods and
Individual Differences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium b Department of Biology, University of
Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Online publication date: 20 January 2011

To cite this Article Janssen, Rianne and Crauwels, Marion(2011) 'Content and student factors in mastering environmental

studies - nature in primary education: evidence from a national assessment in Flanders (Belgium)', Journal of Biological
Education, 45: 1, 20 28
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2011.537836
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2011.537836

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20

JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL EDUCATION, VOLUME 45, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2011

Research paper
Content and student factors in
mastering environmental studies
nature in primary education: evidence
from a national assessment in
Flanders (Belgium)
Rianne Janssena and Marion Crauwelsb
Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 15:44 25 February 2011

Center for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation and Research Group Quantitative Methods and
Individual Differences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; bDepartment of Biology, University of
Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
A large-scale paper-and-pencil assessment of the attainment targets of environmental studies with a focus on the
subject area nature was held in primary education in Flanders (Belgium). The tests on different subfields of nature,
i.e. the human body, healthcare, organisms, ecosystems, environmental care and non-living nature, were administered to a representative sample of 4556 pupils of the sixth grade from 145 different schools. The percentage of
students mastering the attainment targets differed clearly across the tested subfields. Moreover, gender differences
were found. Multilevel analyses revealed that 13% of the total variance of the performance on an overall scale could
be attributed to differences between schools. For 82%, these school differences were accounted for by factors
mainly referring to the language spoken at home and to the socio-economic background of the pupils. Differences
among pupils within schools were explained only to a small extent.

Keywords: large-scale assessment; environmental studies; nature; primary education; multilevel analyses

Introduction
Since 1998, the Flemish Parliament has issued attainment targets for primary education (for pupils from 6
to 12 years) and secondary education (for students
from 12 to 18 years). Attainment targets are minimum
educational objectives with regard to knowledge,
insight, skills and attitudes, which the society and the
educational authorities regard as necessary and attainable at the end of a certain level of education.
As part of a system of quality control of Flemish
education, the Flemish ministry of education started a
programme of national assessments of educational
progress in 2002. The purpose of these national assessments is twofold. First, an assessment has to give information about the percentage of pupils that actually reach
the different attainment targets of the domain that is
being tested. Before the national assessments, informa-

tion about the actual performance of Flemish students

was only available through participation in international
studies, like Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), but these studies are
neither specifically directed at the Flemish curriculum,
nor at the population of children leaving a certain level
of education. A second purpose of the national assessments is to investigate whether there are systematic
differences among schools in test performance, and
whether characteristics at the level of students, classrooms, or schools co-vary with these differences.
It is the purpose of the present paper to report the
results of a Flemish large-scale assessment on environmental studies nature in primary education. Usually,
mathematics and languages receive more attention in

Corresponding author: M. Crauwels, Department of Biology, University of Leuven (Belgium), Naamsestraat 61 (PB 2102),
B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email marion.crauwels@bio.kuleuven.be, tel 32 16 32 42 90, fax 32 16 32 42 58
Journal of Biological Education ISSN 00219266 print/ISSN 21576009 online 2011 Society of Biology
http://www.informaworld.com
DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2011.537836

RESEARCH PAPER

large-scale assessments. However, on a yearly basis, 20

25% of the primary educational curriculum in Flanders
is devoted to environmental studies. In the following,
the attainment targets, the design of the national assessment and the research questions are presented.

The attainment targets on environmental

studies nature
The Flemish attainment targets on nature can be
divided in two broad categories: knowledge-oriented
attainment targets and attainment targets referring to
general skills and attitudes. A full description of the

knowledge-oriented attainment targets is given in

Table 1. These attainment targets refer to three fields:
man (human body and health care), nature around us
(organisms, ecosystems and environmental care), and
non-living nature (weather, climate, heavenly bodies,
(raw) materials). The general skills encompass basic
research and care-taking skills. The attitudes are about
taking care of natural resources and about prevention
measures. The latter attainment target also has a cognitive content, and was therefore also included in Table 1.
According to the principles behind these attainment
targets, teaching environmental studies should start
from concrete and daily-life situations of the children,

Table 1. Overview of the knowledge-oriented attainment targets with the level of

processing at which they were tested
Levelb

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Attainment targetsa
MAN
Human body: structure and functioning, sexuality and development
6. The pupils are able to describe the function of the most important organs involved in mans
life processes and the function of the senses, the skeleton and the muscles.
7. The pupils are able to recognise physical changes which they observe in themselves and
their peers as normal aspects of their development.
Health care
14. The pupils are able to relate healthy habits to what they know about the functions of their
own body and are aware that certain symptoms of disease or handicaps cannot always be
avoided.
15. The pupils are aware that taking precautions can reduce or exclude the chance of infectious
diseases, parasites and fungal infections.c
NATURE AROUND US
Organisms
1. The pupils are able to discover similarities and differences in a limited collection of humans,
animals and plants, and are able to impose their own order and explain it on the basis of at
least one criterion.
3. The pupils are able to point out the characteristics of organisms, revealing how they are
adapted to their diet, protection against enemies and environmental influences.
Ecosystems
2. The pupils are familiar with a few biotopes in their environment and are able to identify and
name a number of common animals and plants in this.
5. The pupils are able to illustrate the law of eating and being eaten on the basis of the food
chain.
Environmental care
4. The pupils are able to illustrate that man influences the presence of plants and animals in his
environment.
19. The pupils are able to give concrete examples in their environment to illustrate how
peoples approach to the environment can be negative or positive, and that environmental
problems are often caused by conflicting interests.
NON-LIVING NATURE
8. The pupils are able to measure and describe the weather conditions at a particular moment
and over a limited period.
9. The pupils are able to illustrate the link between peoples habits and the climate they live in.
10. The pupils are able to demonstrate how the earth rotates around itself, and how the earth,
the sun and the moon move in relation to each other.
11. The pupils are able to indicate what materials and raw materials common objects in their
environment are made of.

Notes: a The numbers refer to the original numbering of the attainment targets in the official publications; b K = Knowledge, C = Comprehension, A = Application;
c
As explained in the text, this attainment target is officially also an attitude.

21

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R. JANSSEN AND M. CRAUWELS

who should develop basic knowledge and insights

through discovery and inquiry.

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Design of the national assessment

The national assessment consisted of two parts. In the
first part, all pupils participated in paper-and-pencil
tests on the six subfields of the knowledge-oriented
attainment targets. Each test consisted of about 25
items with a short-answer format. Of the items, 95%
were multiple-choice. When designing the test instrument for the national assessment, three levels of
Blooms (1968) taxonomy of educational goals were
taken into account: knowledge, comprehension and
application. The last three columns of Table 1 indicate
which level applies to every attainment target. Table 2
gives an example of an item for every test. In a second
part, a random subsample of pupils from each school
participated in a practical assessment on the attainment
targets on research skills. The results of the practical
assessments are discussed in a separate article (Crauwels
et al. in preparation).

Research questions
In line with the two purposes of a national assessment,
the following research questions were asked:
(1) How many Flemish pupils master the attainment
targets on environmental studies nature and are
there differences in performance among the six
subfields? Detailed analyses of the results may
result in content factors that influence the mastery
and comprehension of biology by 12-year-olds.
Table 2.

(2) Are there systematic differences in scores between

schools and classes within schools and which factors
contribute to these differences? Are there certain
groups of children (e.g. groups based on gender or
on language spoken at home) that systematically
perform lower than other children? Detailed analyses of the results may result in pupil characteristics
and educational factors that affect the test performance in environmental studies nature across
pupils, classes, and schools.

Method
Test development
The tests used in the national assessment were
constructed in a previous research project, which was
also commissioned by the Department of Education of
the Flemish Government. Test construction consisted
of several phases: (1) description of the test design; (2)
formulation of the items while taking into account
both attainment targets and their operationalisation in
the curricula as defined by the educational authorities;
(3) piloting of the items with small samples of pupils;
(4) evaluation of the constructed items by experts; and
(5) a large-scale calibration study, in which for each of
the six tests a scale was constructed on the basis of item
response theory (IRT). IRT models are commonly
used in national assessment programmes, such as in the
American National Assessment of Educational
Progress (e.g. Mislevy et al. 1992), the Australian Basic
Skills Testing programme (Masters et al. 1989), or the
Dutch National Assessment Programme (e.g. Thijssen
et al. 2001). In order to determine the minimal test

Example of an item situated below the standard for each scale

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RESEARCH PAPER

Table 2.
(Continued)
23

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R. JANSSEN AND M. CRAUWELS

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Table 2.

(Continued)

Notes: The percentage of students having chosen each response alternative is given in italics. For each item, the percentage of students who did not respond to it
varied between 1 and 2%.

performance necessary to reach the attainment targets,

a standard-setting study was carried out according to
the Bookmark procedure (Mitzel et al. 2001).

included 145 schools and 4556 children. Schools

participated anonymously and on a voluntary basis. In
exchange for their participation, schools received
feedback about the performance of their pupils.

Design of test administration

The six tests were administered according to an
incomplete, chained design (see Table 3). The chosen
design of test administration allowed reliable estimates
of the percentage of students reaching the standard of
each scale to be obtained. The systematic overlap
among the test booklets also enabled the construction
of a common IRT scale across test booklets. This
common scale assesses the overall performance of
students on the attainment targets on environmental
studies nature and was used to analyse the differences in test performance across schools, classes, and
pupils.

Sampling of the participating pupils

A random sample of primary schools was drawn and all
sixth-graders of these schools were required to participate in the test administration. The schools were
sampled according to a stratified sampling design with
three stratification variables: education sector,
geographical location and school size. The final sample

Procedure
In each school, the research team was represented by a
test assistant, who distributed the test booklets to the
teachers of each class. The teachers administered the
paper-and-pencil tests to the children of their own
class, following detailed written instructions. The
pupils received 100 min to complete their test booklets. The test assistant controlled the test administration
and collected the test booklets at the end.

Analyses of differences in test

performance
Both for the separate scales as for the common scale a
two-parameter IRT model was used to summarise test
performance. Multilevel regression models (see, e.g.
Goldstein 2003) were used to assess the differences
among pupils, classes, and schools, and to see whether
these differences co-vary with pupil, classroom, or
school characteristics. One of the main offsets of these
models is that one can assess the effect of predictors on

RESEARCH PAPER

Table 3. Design of the test administration

with the number of students from the total
sample (N = 4556) responding to each
booklet and to each test

Table 4. Percentage of pupils reaching the

standard for each test as a function of
gender
Girls

Boys

Test booklet
Test

Non-living nature

Human body

Health care

Organisms

Ecosystems

Environmental care

N
758 766 768 742 756 766

3022
3046
3058
3034
3032
3032

test performance separately, but also while controlling

for the effect of other variables.
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Test

df p-value

Human body
Health care
Organisms
Ecosystems
Environmental
care
Non-living nature

82.0
84.4
52.4
82.5
64.9

1546
1535
1533
1526
1505

77.0
77.3
55.7
81.8
65.7

1499
1522
1501
1506
1526

11.85
24.91
3.36
0.25
0.22

1 0.001
1 <0.001
1 0.067
1 0.616
1 0.639

53.4 1523 58.2 1498 7.14 1

0.008

10% level. For the tests on ecosystems and environmental care there were no gender differences. Finally,
the boys performed significantly better than the girls
for the test on non-living nature.

Results
Performance on the different
attainment targets
Figure 1 shows the percentage of students reaching the
attainment targets of the six subfields. The best performances were found on the tests of ecosystems, healthcare and human body. For each of these subfields,
about 8 out of 10 pupils mastered the attainment
targets. The test measuring environmental care was
mastered by 65% of the students. The tests measuring
non-living nature and organisms were mastered the
worst, respectively, 56 and 54%.
Figure 1. Percentage of pupils reaching the standard for each of the six scales

Gender differences
Table 4 shows that for the two tests on man, the girls
clearly outperformed the boys in reaching the standards. For the tests on organisms, the boys scored
higher, but this difference was only significant at the

Figure 1.

Multilevel analyses
When analysing the performance of the students on
the common IRT scale, it was found that schools
differed in their average pupil performance. The
school level accounted for 12% of the total variance.
The classroom level accounted for only 2%. In fact,
the latter variance was not significantly different from
zero, implying that there were no systematic differences between the classes within schools. The remaining 87% of the variance referred to differences among
pupils within schools.
Table 5 presents the results of the final multilevel
model. Among the pupil variables the language spoken
with the mother has the largest effect. Pupils who
report that they speak another language than Dutch or
who speak Dutch in combination with another
language score on average lower than students who
speak only Dutch. Pupils who speak other languages

Percentage of pupils reaching the standard for each of the six scales

25

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26

R. JANSSEN AND M. CRAUWELS

Discussion

with their mother score even lower. For the latter

group of children, the probability to solve an average
item lowers 21% in comparison with a reference pupil
who speaks Dutch with his or her mother. The pupil
variable age showed that success probability on an
average item diminished by about 10% for pupils that
were older than their class mates. Finally, pupils with
dyscalculia or with behavioural problems scored lower
than pupils without learning disabilities. The effect size
on the success probability was 8%. Note that pupils
with dyslexia did not score differently from pupils
with no learning disabilities. No gender differences
were found on the overall scale. The children from the
classes with a computer scored on average a little
higher on the overall scale in comparison with children from classes without a computer. Pupils from
municipal schools scored on average somewhat higher
than pupils from private subsidised schools, while
pupils from Flemish community schools scored on
average somewhat lower. Finally, it was found that
schools with a higher percentage of children with a
low socio-economic background scored lower.
On the basis of the overall model presented in Table
5, 13% of the differences among pupils within schools
is explained. At the level of the schools, 82% of the
differences in mean school performances can be
explained. This means that the observed differences
between schools can be accounted for by referring to
the pupils attending the school.
Table 5.

Content factors in mastery of the

different attainment targets
Results of the national assessment showed that Flemish
pupils do not master the attainment targets in the different subfields of environmental studies nature to the
same extent. The attainment targets on man were
mastered very well, both for the human body and for
health care. The Flemish pupils performed very well on
items testing basic knowledge of the human body. Pupils
knew the different organs of the human body and how
each of them functions. However, items that required
higher levels of abstraction were more difficult. For
example, performance was less for items about the organs
involved in transport of oxygen or in the digestion of
food. This effect of level of abstraction was not found for
items about the development of the human body during
puberty, which were mastered well. The high performance on the subfield of health care is probably related to
the fact that the corresponding attainment targets are
closely related to the daily life of the children. In addition, both the Flemish Department of Education and the
Department of Welfare and Public Healthcare cooperate
in the development of educational health projects and
support their implementation in primary schools. A
wide range of actors, including parents, are hereby
involved. This approach creates a clear link between
what is taught at school and in childrens homes.

Results of the final multilevel model on the overall scale (N=3319)a

Variablec
Pupil level (N=3319)
Language spoken with mother
Dutch
Other language
Dutch and other language(s)
Other languages
Age
At age (or before age)
1 year behind
2 or 3 years behind
Learning disabilities
None
Dyscalculia
Behavioural problems
Classroom level (N=234)
PC present in classroom
School level (N=115)
Educational network
Private subsidised schools
Municipal schools
Flemish-community schools
Percentage of low SES children

%d

SE()f

pg

Effecth

88.8
6.8
4.1
0.4

0.206
0.157
0.318

0.016
0.019
0.059

***
***
***

0.13
0.10
0.21

85.1
13.8
1.2

0.132
0.137

0.011
0.034

***
***

0.08
0.08

90.5
1.0
2.6

0.118
0.062

0.035
0.024

***
**

0.07
0.04

89.7

0.044

0.015

**

0.02

59.0
22.9
18.1
24.6

0.032
0.064
0.220

0.014
0.015
0.038

*
***
***

0.02
0.04
0.06b

Notes: aThe final model was estimated on 73% of the total sample as only for these pupils information on all variables was available. Happily, several analyses on
subsamples did not reveal a selection bias. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001. bFor a percentage equal to 50%. cDifferent categories of the categorical variables.
d
Percentage of pupils for whom the reported effect holds; one category is chosen as the reference category. eRegression weight; in comparison with a reference
category. fStandard error of estimation. gLevel of significance. hEffect size; a pupil who is in the reference category for all variables is taken as a reference and has a
probability of 0.76 to answer an item of medium difficulty correctly.

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RESEARCH PAPER

The results on the tests about nature around us were

mixed. The performance of the Flemish pupils on the
test on organisms was low. Pupils were able to systematically order organisms on the basis of given features,
but systematically ordering organisms on the basis of a
self-chosen feature was one step too far. The items
referring to the relations between features of organisms
and the appearance of these organisms in certain
biotopes were mastered worst. A possible explanation
may be that students learn about organisms as separate
entities, apart from their biotopes. In a Dutch national
assessment of biology in primary education (Thijssen
et al. 2003), it was also found that pupils had difficulty
in seeing the interrelationships among organisms and
between an organism and its habitat.
Flemish pupils performed best on the test on ecosystems. This indicates that they are well acquainted with
common plants and animals in their environment.
This is not in line with the aforementioned Dutch
national assessment, where pupils were not able to
name common animals and plants. However, one
difference may be that in the Flemish assessment, the
pupils were asked to name certain plants and animals
on a figure. They did not have to name a particular
animal or plant, as in the Dutch and other studies.
Flemish pupils also master the law of eating and being
eaten very well and they can also apply their knowledge to new situations. Apparently, this topic is quite
comprehensible for children of this age.
Flemish pupils performed poorly on the subfield of
environmental care, despite the attention this topic
currently gets in our society. However, the present
attainment targets are not just about discerning the
influence of man on nature. They also require that children have insight into relationships (cause and consequence, method and goal), that they can take different
perspectives on a given environmental problem, and
that they can discuss issues about policy-making. This
requires an integrated approach, including an overview
of all factors and actors involved and the relationships
between these factors and actors, when thinking about
the problem. As Hipkins et al. (2008) showed, developing an understanding of biological and environmental
issues requires children to have opportunities to learn
about systems interactions and impacts.
The test on non-living nature was composed of a
diverse set of attainment targets. The weak performance for this subfield was largely due to the items
related to the movement of the earth, sun and moon.
Additionally, items that relied on the understanding of
a combination of weather elements were more difficult. The items related to the identification of materials
used in objects were mastered better than the items
assessing the identification of raw materials to make
objects. For example, pupils knew that tyres are made
of rubber or that the leather from a handbag is derived
from animals, but did not know that in order to
produce glass the raw material sand is needed, or that

chips can be made of potatoes. Children had little difficulty with the items relating the lifestyle and habits of a
community of people to the climate of their habitat.

Gender differences
The reported gender differences on the different
subfields are in line with previous research. First, in
the present assessment girls outperformed boys on the
tests on the human body and on health education.
Studies in secondary education (Tunnicliffe 1997;
Uitto et al. 2006) showed that boys were more interested in basic processes in biology, while girls found
human biology and health education more interesting.
Second, the boys performed better on the test on nonliving nature, the attainment targets for which are
related to physics and chemistry. This is in line with
the study by Baram-Tsabari and Yarden (2008). Third,
in the present assessment there was a slight advantage
for the boys on the test on organisms. Huxham et al.
(2006) reported that in primary education boys had
greater wildlife knowledge than girls. Finally, as in
TIMSS or PISA, no gender differences were found on
the overall scale. Apparently, the gender differences in
different subfields cancel out when looking at an overall science performance.

Student factors in mastery of the

attainment targets on environmental
studies nature
The largest part of the differences in test performance
on the overall scale refers to differences among pupils.
A much smaller amount refers to differences between
schools. The differences among pupils can be
explained only to a limited extent by the available
background variables. The language spoken with the
mother and the age of the pupil have the largest
impact. The effect of language at home is commonly
found in international studies. The role of language in
learning biology has also been demonstrated in several
studies (Gilmour and MacGregor 1985; Pallincsar
1989; Duran et al. 1998; Cakici 2005; Dimopoulos
et al. 2005; Brown and Ryoo 2008; Vikstrom 2008).
The socio-economic background of the pupils was
not measured at the individual level, but it did have an
impact at the school level. Schools with more children
with low socio-economic status (SES) have more difficulties in reaching the attainment targets on nature.
Other school variables that were significant predictors
were the educational network and the presence of a
computer in the classroom. The effect of educational
network is partly an effect of the different composition
of the school population among the three educational
networks as Flemish community schools (and municipal schools to a lower extent) attract more pupils from
lower socio-economic backgrounds. It is difficult to
interpret the positive effect of the presence of a

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R. JANSSEN AND M. CRAUWELS

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computer in the classroom. It might be the case that

this variable is a proxy for the amount of money that is
spent in the school on learning materials or new
methods and handbooks.
The results of the multilevel analyses indicate that in
primary education in Flanders schools with children
with a more problematic background (language at
home, learning difficulties, and low SES) are at risk of
performing lower on the attainment targets on nature.
This is an important finding for policy makers.
However, the present analyses only describe the differences in performances and how they are associated with
background variables. The results do not give an
indication of the effectiveness or quality of the participating schools, as there was neither control for previous
performance of the pupils, nor for other important
input, context, or process variables.

Educational implications
In primary education, there is a shift towards an experience-based method of teaching biology, stressing the
importance to start from the observation and exploration of the childrens own environment. The results on
the different subfields provided by this research show
that primary school teachers need to be encouraged
and supported in giving particular emphasis to direct
interaction with local nature around the schools environment. Examples from local nature should be used to
draw pupils attention to link features of organisms and
their occurrence in biotopes. Concerning the subfield
of environmental care, one way to enhance pupils
performance is to introduce educational environmental
projects as in the subfield of health care in which all
actors are involved in an integrated and multidisciplinary way. For certain subfields, the level of abstraction negatively influenced pupils performances. For
more abstract topics, teaching by illustration may
improve childrens learning process.
With respect to gender differences, it seems important that teachers take into account that, on average,
boys and girls may be engaged in different contents and
contexts of biology, as Uitto et al. (2006) also noted.
Teachers should try to overcome these gender differences and not reinforce stereotypical gender roles.
Finally, with respect to the influence of background
variables, the assessment revealed a prominent role of
language. Therefore, educators in teaching training
programmes should pay special attention to language as
part of didactics in science. Vikstrom (2008) showed that
even complex understanding in biology is possible when
the opportunities to learn are adequate. Collaborative
learning class environments may overcome language
barriers as well as the maintaining of misconceptions
(Pallincsar 1989; Marinopoulos and Stavidrou 2002).

Acknowledgements
The research was carried out using grants from the
Flemish Ministry of Education. We would like to
thank Frank Habermann, Barbara Luyten, May Van
Hulle, Danil Van Nijlen, Cecile Van der Schaeve and
Bartel Volckaert, who were part of the research team.

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