Chapter 6: Scientific literacy and the environment

Students’ attitudes toward and behaviours with regard to the environment can potentially have a major impact on the future of the environment. Well-informed citizens, who care for the environment and take personal responsibility for it, are what many countries aspire to as a long-term goal. This section examines the questions PISA asked students about their knowledge of, level of concern for, and optimism about environmental issues, along with their personal feelings of responsibility.

Awareness of environmental issues
In order to gauge their environmental awareness, students were asked how informed they were about the five environmental issues listed in Table 11. They were given four possible response options:

• I have never heard of this;
• I have heard about this but I would not be able to explain what it is really about;
• I know something about this and could explain the general issue; and
• I am familiar with this and I would be able to explain this well.
  

Among the issues asked about, New Zealand 15-year-old students were most familiar with the consequences of clearing forests for other land use (71% familiar or know something about this issue and would be able to explain it); this proportion was similar to that found in other OECD countries on average. In contrast, less than half of New Zealand 15-year-olds (40%) felt knowledgeable enough to explain the environmental issue of nuclear waste. On average across the OECD, a significantly higher proportion of students (53%) felt knowledgeable enough to explain nuclear waste. The lower figure for New Zealand might reflect the general lack of exposure to this issue due to our anti-nuclear status.

New Zealand students were also less likely to report they were knowledgeable enough to explain acid rain (44%) compared with their OECD counterparts (60%); given that acid rain is not likely to be discussed often as an environmental issue in New Zealand, this finding is not too surprising. In contrast, New Zealand students were more likely to report they were knowledgeable enough to explain the use of genetically modified organisms (48%) compared to their OECD counterparts (35%).
 

Table 11: Proportion of students who are familiar with or know something about environmental issues

Note:

Response options for each statement were: I have never heard of this; I have heard about this but I would not be able to explain what it is really about; I know something about this and could explain the general issue; and I am familiar with this and I would be able to explain this well. The proportions shown in this table combine those who reported knowing something about the issue and could explain it generally and those who reported they were familiar with the issue and would be able to explain it well.

An index of students’ awareness of environmental issues was created using students’ responses to these five statements. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who were familiar with these issues were higher on the index, and students who knew little about the issues were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the scale was lower than the OECD average but higher than the average for Korea. The higher-achieving countries, Finland and Hong Kong-China, had higher values on this index than New Zealand.

Students’ reported environmental awareness had a strong relationship with achievement, as shown in Figure 11. That is, students with a greater environmental awareness had significantly higher achievement than those with lower environmental awareness. The relationship between environmental awareness and achievement observed for New Zealand students was similar to that found in Belgium and Japan.

Figure 11: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of students’ awareness of environmental issues

Notes:

The student index of awareness of environmental issues combines the responses to the five statements presented in Table 11. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index did not necessarily know nothing about the issues; rather, they were less likely to report familiarity in general than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Level of concern for environmental issues

Students were asked how concerned they were about the six environmental issues listed in Table 12. They were given four possible response options:

• this is a serious concern for me personally as well as others;
• this is a serious concern for other people in my country but not me personally;
• this is a serious concern only for people in other countries; and
• this is not a serious concern to anyone.
  

As shown in Table 12, around eight out of every ten 15-year-old students in New Zealand believed the environmental issues of energy shortages, air pollution, extinction of plants and animals, clearing of forests and water shortages were of serious concern for themselves or other New Zealanders. The issue of nuclear waste was of less concern, with only 60 percent of students believing it to be serious to them or other New Zealanders. The 40 percent of students who felt this was not a concern for them or other people in New Zealand were possibly influenced by the fact that New Zealand does not have nuclear facilities and therefore there is little nuclear waste to worry about.

Across OECD countries, on average, air pollution and nuclear waste were considered to be of serious concern by a greater proportion of students than in New Zealand. Indeed, New Zealand had the lowest proportion of students reporting that air pollution was of serious concern, while only Iceland and Tunisia had lower proportions of students who believed that nuclear waste was of serious concern. Again, the lack of nuclear facilities and students’ belief in New Zealand’s ‘clean, green’ image may have influenced these results.

Table 12: Proportion of students who believe environmental issues to be of serious concern for themselves or other people in their country

Notes:

Response options for each statement were: this is a serious concern for me personally as well as others; this is a serious concern for other people in my country but not me personally; this is a serious concern only for people in other countries; and this is not a serious concern to anyone. Proportions for agreement shown in this table combine this is a serious concern for me personally as well as others and this is a serious concern for other people in my country but not me personally.

An index of students’ level of concern for environmental issues was created using students’ responses to these six statements. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who believed these issues were of serious concern for themselves or their country were higher on the index, and students who were less concerned about the issues were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the scale was lower than the OECD average, but higher than the average for Finland.

Interestingly, there was no relationship between the index of level of concern for environmental issues and student achievement in scientific literacy, as shown in Figure 12. That is, students with a higher concern about environmental issues had similar achievement to those with less concern.

Figure 12: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of students’ level of concern for environmental issues

Notes:

The student index of level of concern for environmental issues combines the responses to the six issues presented in Table 12. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index did not necessarily believe all the issues to be unimportant; rather, they were less likely to report them to be of serious concern in general than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Environmental optimism

Students were asked whether they believed that the problems associated with the six environmental issues listed in Table 13 would improve or get worse over the next 20 years. They were also given the response option of stay about the same, but this option was not included in the wording of the question stem, only in the response table.

In general, few New Zealand students were optimistic that problems associated with environmental issues would improve over the next 20 years, with proportions ranging from 8 percent to 20 percent. Students were most likely to be optimistic about energy shortages and least likely to be optimistic about the clearing of forests for other land use. The pattern of general lack of optimism found in New Zealand is similar to that found in many countries in the study.

Air pollution (73%) and clearing forests for other land use (72%) were the two issues the largest proportion of students thought would get worse over the next 20 years.

Table 13: Proportion of students who believe problems associated with environmental issues will improve over the next 20 years

Note:

Response options for each statement were: improve, stay about the same, and get worse. The proportions for agreement shown in this table include only improve.

An index of students’ optimism regarding environmental issues was created using students’ responses to these six issues. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who were optimistic about these issues were higher on the index, and students who were more pessimistic about the issues were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the scale was lower than the OECD average. Along with Canada and Croatia, New Zealand was among those countries that were least optimistic regarding environmental issues.

Optimism for environmental issues was found to be negatively associated with achievement in scientific literacy, as shown in Figure 13. That is, students who were less optimistic tended to be those with higher achievement, while the more optimistic students tended to have lower achievement. This pattern was observed for all countries in the study except for Kyrgyzstan, where there was no difference in achievement across the index.

Figure 13: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of students’ optimism regarding environmental issues

Notes:

The student index of optimism regarding environmental issues combines the responses to the six issues presented in Table 13. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index did not necessarily feel pessimistic with regard to all the issues; rather, they were less likely to report optimism in general than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Responsibility for sustainable development

In order to gauge the extent to which students link societies’ actions with environmental issues and feel some sense of responsibility for these issues, students were asked about their agreement with seven statements related to issues of sustainable development (listed in Table 14). Three of the statements drew strong support from New Zealand students, with at least nine out of every 10 students in favour of protecting the habitats of endangered species, requiring industries to safely dispose of waste, and make regular checks on the emissions of cars as a condition of their use. The issue of minimising the use of plastic packaging also drew fairly high support (83% agreeing). This finding aligns with the move among supermarkets in New Zealand to encourage customers to bring their own carry bags rather than use new plastic carry bags each visit (New Zealand Press Association 2007). The findings for New Zealand on these four statements are similar to those on average across the OECD countries (see Table 14).

While three-quarters of New Zealand students agreed that electricity should be produced from renewable sources as much as possible, far fewer (58%) were disturbed by wastage of electricity. Fewer New Zealand students were likely to be worried about wastage of electricity when compared with the average among OECD countries, although the proportion was similar to that of students in Denmark, Norway, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.

Just under half of 15-year-old students in New Zealand were in favour of laws that regulate factory emissions regardless of the impact on the price of products. This proportion was one of the smallest found in the countries in PISA, with only Israel having a smaller proportion (37%).

Table 14: Proportion of students who agree with statements on responsibility for sustainable development

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.

An index of responsibility for sustainable development was created by combining students’ responses to the seven issues. The index was constructed so that, in general, students who agreed with these statements were higher on the index, and students who disagreed were lower on the index. The New Zealand average on the index was lower than the OECD average, but higher than the average for the Netherlands. The higher-achieving countries, Finland and Hong Kong-China, had higher values on this index than New Zealand.

New Zealand students’ reported responsibility for sustainable development was positively associated with achievement in scientific literacy, as shown in Figure 14. That is, students who reported a greater sense of society’s responsibility for sustainable development (i.e. who were higher on the index) generally had higher achievement than those with a lower sense of responsibility (i.e. were lower on the index, see Figure 14). This positive relationship with achievement was observed for all countries except Israel, and was particularly strong for New Zealand students, along with their counterparts in Greece, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France.

Figure 14: Mean scientific literacy of students in each quarter of the index of responsibility for sustainable development

Notes:

The student index of responsibility for sustainable development combines the responses to the seven issues presented in Table 14. Students in the lowest ¼ of the index were not necessarily strongly negative; rather, they were less likely to agree or strongly agree with statements than were their counterparts in the other groupings.

Standard errors appear in parentheses.

Gender differences for scientific literacy and the environment

New Zealand boys were more likely to report having a high environmental awareness than girls. Contrary to this, girls were more likely to report high levels of concern for the environment, tended to be less optimistic about environmental issues, and were more likely to report having a higher sense of responsibility for sustainable development than boys.

Ethnic differences for scientific literacy and the environment

Asian students were more likely to report having higher environmental awareness and were more likely to have a higher sense of responsibility for sustainable development on average than their Pākehā/European, Pasifika and Māori peers. Students’ level of concern for environmental issues did not differ markedly among ethnic groupings on average. With regard to optimism that environmental issues would improve, Asian and Pasifika students were more likely to report optimism, while Pākehā/European students were least likely.

Socio-economic differences for scientific literacy and the environment

Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to report having higher environmental awareness and were more likely to report having a higher sense of responsibility for sustainable development on average than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. However, there was no difference in the level of concern for the environment. Similar to the negative relationship with achievement found for environmental optimism, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds tended to report having higher optimism for the environment than students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.