PARIS (Reuters) - Finnish 15-year-olds had the best science knowledge last year according to an OECD education report released on Tuesday, but South Korea took the top spot in reading while Taipei students were the smartest at maths.
By Anna Willard
PARIS (Reuters) - Finnish 15-year-olds had the best science knowledge last year according to an OECD education report released on Tuesday, but South Korea took the top spot in reading while Taipei students were the smartest at maths.
The 2006 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) surveyed 400,000 15-year-old students in 57 countries, testing their science knowledge on subjects such as climate change, genetically modified crops and the importance of physical exercise.
The report, which is carried out every three years, also tested maths and reading but put a special focus this time on science because of its growing importance in technologically-based economies.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Finland ranked top in the science survey with a mean score of 563, beating Hong Kong into second place with 542 and Canada into third with a score of 534.
The United States, Spain and Italy were among 32 countries that were classed as statistically below the Organisation for Economic Cooperate and Development (OECD) average.
"In today's technology-based societies, understanding fundamental scientific concepts and theories and the ability to structure and solve scientific problems are more important than ever," the report said.
It urged countries to strengthen their science staff to encourage student enthusiasm and to make sure pupils who will not end up working in science to continue some scientific study.
The report said only a minority of students wanted to work in science. It also found that students from wealthier backgrounds were more likely to think science was important.
EXTRA QUESTIONS
The students mostly carried out pencil and paper tasks in the tests but in three countries some students were given extra questions on a computer.
South Korean teenagers were the world leaders at reading with a mean score of 556, ahead of Finland with 547 in second place and Hong Kong in third place with 536.
"In Korea, performance on the reading literacy scale is above that of any other OECD country, even higher than in Finland, which was the top-performer in reading in PISA 2000 and PISA 2003," the report said.
It said Korea has improved its average performance mainly by significantly raising performance among more able students while performance at the lower end of the scale was largely unchanged.
Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Norway were among those countries significantly below the OECD average in reading.
In mathematics, Taipei came first with a mean score of 549, with Finland in second with 548 and Hong Kong a joint third with Korea on 547. The United States, Italy, Spain and Portugal were below the OECD average on the mathematics scale.
"The wide disparities in student performance in mathematics within most countries ... suggest that excellence throughout systems still remains a remote goal and that countries need to serve a wide range of student abilities," the report said.
(Editing by Peter Millership)
