PISA 2006: Student attitudes to and engagement with science: How ready are our 15-year-olds for tomorrow's world?

Chapter 7: Conclusion

This report has examined the attitudes of New Zealand 15-year-old students to science, along with a measure of their engagement with science. The relationship between students’ achievement in scientific literacy and their attitudes to and engagement with science was also examined, and comparisons made by gender, main ethnic grouping and socio-economic background.

What were New Zealand students’ attitudes to and engagement with science?

New Zealand 15-year-old students were generally interested in science, and as many as a quarter of students indicated they thought they might be in a science-related career at age 30. Relative to students in other participating countries, they did not have particularly strong positive beliefs in their own abilities in science and did not tend to engage in many science-related activities in their leisure time. However, many New Zealand students agreed that science was of value to society and that advances in science were important. In general, they were concerned about environmental issues and not very optimistic for future improvement.

What was the relationship between attitudes and engagement and scientific literacy achievement?

A number of aspects of attitudes to and engagement with science were found to be associated with higher scientific literacy achievement. Overall, students who reported a higher interest in science, reported higher positive beliefs in their own abilities, placed a higher value on science and reported high environmental concerns, also had higher levels of achievement.

What were the attitudes and engagement of boys and girls?

There were some distinct differences between boys and girls with regard to their attitudes to and engagement with science. New Zealand 15-year-old boys were more likely to report enjoying science, reported higher levels of engagement in science-related leisure activities, reported higher self-belief, and expressed a high general value of science than girls. However, a higher proportion of girls expected to be in a science-related career at age 30, and girls were more likely to report high levels of concern and responsibility for the environment than boys.

What were the attitudes and engagement of students in each ethnic grouping?

Some differences were found between students in the main ethnic groupings in New Zealand with regard to their attitudes to and engagement with science. Asian students were more positive in their views on engagement with science, were more likely to report higher self-belief in science, reported higher levels of engagement in science-related leisure activities, and were more likely to express a higher value of science, both generally and personally. In contrast, Māori students were the least positive with regard to their views on engagement with science, and were least likely to report having higher self-belief in science or to express a high value of science, both generally and personally.
What were the attitudes and engagement of students by socio-economic background?
Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tended to report higher levels of engagement, higher scientific self-belief, higher value beliefs, higher environmental awareness, and a higher sense of responsibility for sustainable development, on average, than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Final note

The Ministry of Education’s current focus is on presence, engagement and achievement (Ministry of Education 2007). This report adds to the evidence base supporting this focus, particularly in the aspects of engagement and achievement. Given the finding that, in general, attitudes to and engagement with science are positively related to scientific literacy achievement, this report is an important addition to the suite of reporting into New Zealand’s participation in PISA 2006.