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

Chapter 5: Value beliefs regarding science

There are two aspects to value beliefs regarding science: the value of science for humanity in general and the value of science to the student personally. These two aspects are examined separately in PISA, because while students may think advances in science are important and useful (a more general value of science), they may or may not wish to pursue scientific studies or careers and hence contribute to scientific advances (a more personal value of science).

General value of science

In general, most 15-year-old students in New Zealand - and indeed across all countries in PISA - felt that science was of value to society and advances in science were important (see Table 8). However, one-third of New Zealand students did not agree that advances in science and technology usually bring social benefits. This statement was the one that showed the greatest variation across countries, with around three-quarters of students agreeing across the OECD on average (75%), but as many as 97 percent agreeing in Thailand and as few as 53 percent agreeing in Iceland.

Table 8: Proportion of students agreeing with statements on the general value of science

Note:

Response options for each statement were: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Proportions for agreement shown in this table combine both those who agreed and those who strongly agreed.

An index of the general value of science was created using students’ responses to these five statements. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who agreed with these statements were higher on the index, and students who reacted more negatively to the statements were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the scale was lower than the OECD average but higher than the average for the Netherlands. The higher-achieving countries, Finland and Hong Kong-China, had much higher values on this index than New Zealand.

The index of the general value of science was found to have a positive relationship with achievement, as shown in Figure 9. That is, students with a greater general value of science had significantly higher achievement than those with a lower value of science. This relationship was observed for all the countries involved in PISA 2006. The strength of the relationship between the perceived general value of science and achievement observed for New Zealand students was high relative to other countries, and similar to that found in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Figure 9: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of the general value of science

Notes:

The student index of general value of science combines the responses to the five statements presented in Table 8. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index did not necessarily disagree with all statements on the general value of science; rather, they were less likely to report agreement in general than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Support for scientific enquiry

In order to further investigate the students’ general value of science, specific questions were asked within the context of three of the assessment units. That is, following each of three assessment units, students were asked for their agreement on the importance of scientific study or evidence in the area presented in the assessment unit. Most New Zealand students agreed with the statements, with the proportion ranging from 67 percent agreeing that action to protect National Parks from damage should be based on scientific evidence, to 90 percent agreeing that they were in favour of research to develop vaccines for new strains of influenza, as shown in Table 9. The relatively lower proportion of students agreeing with the statement on national parks may be because for many New Zealand students national parks and preserving New Zealand’s flora and fauna are entwined with national identity. Thus it may be that they think that protection of national parks is important regardless of scientific evidence, rather than thinking that protection of national parks is unimportant or that science is unimportant. In addition, some students may feel that waiting for scientific evidence may cause an unacceptable delay or have irreversible consequences. This may explain why the proportion of New Zealand students agreeing with this statement is low compared with other statements and with students in other countries (ranging from 59% in Finland to 93% in Thailand).

It is perhaps not surprising that nine out of ten New Zealand students and nearly all students in all countries agreed that they were in favour of research to develop vaccines for new strains of influenza given that they would all benefit directly from this kind of research. In general, the majority of students showed support for scientific enquiry in their responses to these questions.

Table 9: Proportion of students agreeing with statements on scientific enquiry

Note:

Response options for each statement were: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The proportions for agreement shown in this table combine those who agreed and those who strongly agreed.

Personal value of science

As mentioned earlier, fewer New Zealand students reported it was as important for them to do well in science compared to mathematics and reading. Therefore it might be expected that students would be less likely to agree that science was of value to them personally than it was for society in general. This was the case, with a range from just over half (56%) up to around three-quarters (77%) of students agreeing with the statements on the personal value of science compared with agreement on the general value of science, which ranged from 66 percent up to 93 percent.

As shown in Table 10, students were more likely to find science helpful for understanding the things around them (77%) than they were to agree that there would be many opportunities to use science when they left school (65%) and that science was very relevant to them (56%).

Table 10: Proportion of students agreeing with statements on the personal value of science

Note:

Response options for each statement were: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The proportions for agreement shown in this table combine those who agreed and those who strongly agreed.

The student responses to these five statements were combined into the personal value of science index. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who agreed with these statements were higher on the index and students who reacted more negatively to the statements were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the index was higher than the OECD average, and higher than the averages in Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, and Korea. In contrast, Hong Kong-China had a much higher value on this index than New Zealand.

As with the general value of science index, the personal value of science index was found to have a positive relationship with achievement, as shown in Figure 10. That is, students who reported a greater personal value of science had significantly higher achievement than those with a lower value of science. This relationship was observed for many but not all of the countries involved in PISA 2006. As for the general value of science, the strength of the relationship between personal value of science and achievement observed for New Zealand students was high relative to other countries (both OECD and non-OECD) and similar to that found in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Figure 10: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of personal value of science

Notes:

The student index of personal value of science combines the responses to the five statements presented in Table 10. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index did not necessarily disagree with all statements on personal value of science; rather, they were less likely to report agreement in general than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Gender differences in value beliefs regarding science

New Zealand male students were more likely to report that advances in science are important and useful (have a high general value of science) than were female students. In contrast with the general value of science, New Zealand girls were just as likely to report wishing to pursue scientific studies or careers, and hence contribute to scientific advances (have a high personal value of science), as the boys.
Ethnic differences in value beliefs regarding science

Asian students in New Zealand were more likely to report advances in science are important and useful (have a high general value of science) and were more likely to report wishing to pursue scientific studies or careers, and hence contribute to scientific advances (have a high personal value of science), than their Pākehā/European, Māori, and Pasifika peers. Māori students were the least likely to report advances in science are important and useful (have a high general value of science) and were also least likely to report wishing to pursue scientific studies or careers, and hence contribute to scientific advances (have a high personal value of science).

Socio-economic differences in value beliefs regarding science

Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tended to have higher value beliefs regarding science on average than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.