PISA 2006: School context of science achievement: How ready are our 15-year-olds for tomorrow's world?

Science teaching and learning

It might be expected that science performance is lifted when more time is invested in learning science and connections are made between what is taught and the wider world. In this section we examine what type of science education 15-year-olds are engaged in, the time spent learning science in and out of school, what teaching methods are employed in the classroom, and what activities are endorsed to promote science.

Science enrolment

Students were asked whether they were enrolled in any type of science course, and if so, what type of course. Over 90 percent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand were enrolled in some type of science course, whether compulsory or optional, similar to the OECD average (87%). Of the 90 percent of students, 74 percent were enrolled in a compulsory science course and 43 percent in an optional science course (some students were enrolled in both). The OECD average was higher for the percentage of students enrolled in a compulsory science course (84%) but lower for students enrolled in optional courses (29%). A further breakdown by science subject is provided in Table 14.

Finland had significantly more students enrolled in compulsory science courses, across both general and science-specific topics (ranging from 73% to 95%) compared to New Zealand. Across the OECD countries it was more common for students to be enrolled in a general science than a biology, physics or chemistry course at age 15.

Table 14: Proportion of students taking various science courses

Science course	Proportion of students taking science subjects (%)
	New Zealand	OECD average
Compulsory general science     Optional general science	70 32	64 21
Compulsory biology     Optional biology	30 18	57 15
Compulsory physics     Optional physics	31 17	61 15
Compulsory chemistry     Optional chemistry	32 17	60 15

Time spent learning science

Sixty-five percent of students in New Zealand indicated that they spent four hours a week or more on regular lessons learning science at school (similar to the United Kingdom at 62%), while 17 percent of students spent less than two hours a week learning science at school. Interestingly, the average percentage of students across the OECD countries who spent four hours a week or more on regular lessons at school was almost half that for New Zealand (36%), while twice as many as in New Zealand spent less than two hours a week on regular lessons at school (33%).

Only a very small percentage of students in New Zealand (1%) spent more than four hours on science lessons outside of school, similar to the OECD average (3%). Significantly more students in New Zealand (94%) spent less than two hours a week on lessons out of school. This is similar to most of the English-speaking and high-performing countries, with the OECD average being 89 percent.

Seventy-nine percent of New Zealand students spent less than two hours a week on self-study or homework. This proportion was slightly higher than the OECD average (75%) but similar to Australia (81%), the United Kingdom (75%) and partner country Chinese Taipei (78%). There were significantly fewer students in New Zealand who spent four hours a week or more doing self-study or homework (4%). This is half the OECD average (8%), but similar to Australia (4%), Korea (5%), the United Kingdom (4%) and partner country Chinese Taipei (5%).

Table 15: Proportion of students studying science in different contexts, by time spent on learning

Context of studying science	Proportion of students studying science (%)
	New Zealand		OECD average
	Less than 2 hours a week	4 hours a week or more	Less than 2 hours a week	4 hours a week or more
Regular lessons at school	17	65	33	29
Out of school-time lessons	94	1	89	3
Individual study or homework	79	4	75	7

Methods of teaching science

To teach science effectively it would seem obvious that schools need to provide a learning environment that fosters development in scientific literacy. PISA 2006 collected information on teaching from individual learners to examine four different teaching methods: interactive teaching, hands-on learning, student investigations, and models and application. A series of activities were listed which can be categorised under each method and are displayed in Tables 16 to 19 below. A larger proportion of 15-year-olds in New Zealand reported the use of interactive teaching activities (40% to 71%) compared with models and applications (37% to 66%), hands-on learning (23% to 58%), and student investigations (12% to 26%). These findings are similar to those found on average across the OECD countries.

The interactive teaching activities are those that are designed to foster discussion about science. The opportunity for students to explain their ideas was the most frequently reported activity by 15-year-olds in New Zealand (71%), as shown in Table 16; this is similar to Australia (71%), Canada (73%), Finland (64%), United Kingdom (72%), and the United States (74%). Fifty-one percent of students in New Zealand were able to have discussions about the topics in all or most lessons (similar to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, ranging from 44% to 59%). Fifty percent of students in New Zealand reported that all or most science lessons involved students’ opinions about the topic and 40 percent reported that a class debate or discussion took place.

Table 16: Proportion of students reporting that interactive teaching activities occur in all or most science lessons

Interactive teaching activities	Percentage of students who responded in all or most lessons
	New Zealand	OECD average
Students are given opportunities to explain their ideas	71	62
Students have discussions about the topics	51	43
The lessons involve students’ opinions about the topics	50	49
There is a class debate or discussion	40	36

Notes:

Adjusted percentages are shown. The percentage of students with missing responses for each of these items was about 10%; these students are not included in this table.

The models and application teaching activities help students understand science in relation to the outside world. Sixty-six percent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand reported that teachers explained how a science idea can be applied to a number of different phenomena in all or most lessons. This is similar to Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States (ranging from 51% to 72%). The majority of students in New Zealand (51%) reported that teachers clearly explained the relevance of science concepts to their lives, and a similar proportion (48%) reported teachers using science to help students understand the world outside school (similar to Australia, with 55% and 49% respectively, and Canada, with 58% and 53% respectively). Just under 40 percent of students in New Zealand were asked either to apply a science concept to everyday problems or the teacher used technological applications to show how science is relevant to society.

Table 17: Proportion of students reporting models and application teaching activities occur in all or most science lessons

Models and applications activities	Percentage of students who responded in all or most lessons
	New Zealand	OECD average
The teacher explains how a science idea can be applied to a number of different phenomena (e.g. the movement of objects, substances with similar properties)	66	60
The teacher clearly explains the relevance of science concepts to our lives	51	46
The teacher uses science to help students understand the world outside school	48	38
The students are asked to apply a science concept to everyday problems	38	30
The teacher uses examples of technological application to show how science is relevant to society	37	35

Notes:

Adjusted percentages are shown. The percentage of students with missing responses for each of these items was about 10% these students are not included in this table.

The hands-on learning approach enables students to learn from experiments conducted either by the individual student or by the teacher. In New Zealand, 15-year-old students most frequently reported either being asked to draw conclusions from experiments they had conducted (58%), or to do an experiment following instructions relayed by the teacher (57%). The New Zealand proportions of students for these two activities were similar to Finland (55% and 51% respectively). Activities less frequent, both in New Zealand schools and across OECD countries on average, included experiments done by teachers as demonstrations (38% and 34% respectively) and students spending time in a lab doing practical experiments (23% and 22% respectively).

Table 18: Proportion of students reporting hands-on learning activities occur in all or most science lessons

Hands-on learning activities	Percentage of students who responded in all or most lessons
	New Zealand	OECD average
Students are asked to draw conclusions from an experiment they have conducted	58	51
Students do experiments by following the instructions of the teacher	57	45
Experiments are done by the teacher as demonstrations	38	34
Students spend time in the laboratory doing practical experiments	23	22

Notes:

Adjusted percentages are shown. The percentage of students with missing responses for each of these items was about 10%; these students are not included in this table.

Of the four teaching approaches, student investigation was the least frequently reported by students in New Zealand and across the OECD countries. Twenty-six percent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand indicated they were required to design how a science question could be investigated in the laboratory. This is similar to Australia (28%) and the Netherlands (26%), significantly higher than Finland (10%), Japan (9%) and Korea (13%), but almost half that for the United States (45%). Twenty-two percent of students in New Zealand reported that they were asked to do an investigation to test out their own ideas. This is similar to Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom (26%, 22%, and 23% respectively). Fourteen percent of students in New Zealand were allowed to design their own experiments, and 12 percent were given the chance to choose their own investigations. This is similar to the average across the OCED countries for these two activities – 17 percent and 16 percent respectively.

Table 19: Proportion of students reporting student investigations occur in all or most science lessons

Student investigation activities	Percentage of students who responded in all or most lessons
	New Zealand	OECD average
Students are required to design how a science question could be investigated in the laboratory	26	22
Students are asked to do an investigation to test out their own ideas	22	23
Students are allowed to design their own experiments	14	17
Students are given the chance to choose their own investigations	12	16

Notes:

Adjusted percentages are shown. The percentage of students with missing responses for each of these items was about 10%; these students are not included in this table.

Activities to promote science

School principals were asked what activities, from a list of five (see Table 20), their school participated in to promote science learning among students in Year 11 (other countries included the grade name appropriate for them). The most common type of activity designed to promote science learning conducted externally to the classroom, both in New Zealand schools and across OECD countries, was excursions and field trips (94% of New Zealand students and 89% on average across the OECD). Science competitions were also popular in New Zealand (91%), along with Australia (98%), Poland (100%), and Hong Kong-China (91%), but less so across OECD countries (on average 54%). Although science fairs and projects were less common in New Zealand (72%), the proportion of students participating in them was significantly higher than the OECD average (39%). Having a greater variety of activities promoting science within a school was not associated with higher achievement for students in New Zealand schools, but it was associated with higher achievement among many of the OECD countries.

Table 20: Proportion of students in schools that hold activities to promote science

Activities to promote science	Proportion of students (%)
	New Zealand	OECD average
Science clubs	32	38
Science fairs	72	39
Science competitions	91	54
Extra-curricular science projects	57	45
Excursions and field trips	94	89

Notes:

Proportions presented are proportions of students whose principal indicated that these activities happened in their schools.