Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 401. Instructional practices and time spent teaching science in eighth grade, by country: 1999

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                        |  Percent of students reporting almost always    |             Number of hours science is taught weekly
                        |               or pretty often                   |
        Country         |_________________________________________________|________________________________________________________________________________
                        |We dis- |Teacher  |We work on  |We work |We begin| Less than 2 hours |At least 2 to less |At least 3.5, but  |  5 hours or more
                        |cuss our|shows us |worksheets  |  on    |  our   |                   |  than 3.5 hours   |less than 5 hours  |
                        |complete|how to do|or textbooks|science |homework|___________________|___________________|___________________|____________________
                        |homework|science  |on our own  |projects|        |Percent |Mean score|Percent |Mean score|Percent |Mean score|Percent  |Mean score
________________________|________|_________|____________|________|________|________|__________|________|__________|________|__________|_________|__________
           1            |   2    |    3    |  4         |  5     | 6      |  7     |    8     |   9    |    10    |   11   |    12    |    13   |    14
________________________|________|_________|____________|________|________|________|__________|________|__________|________|__________|_________|__________
Australia\1\ ...........|48 (1.6)| 73 (1.4)|   75  (1.2)|51 (1.6)|40 (1.5)| 6 (1.8)|523 (15.2)|64 (3.9)|535  (5.5)|28 (3.5)|555  (8.2)|  3 (1.2)|526 (16.0)
Canada\2\ ..............|56 (1.4)| 74 (1.2)|   76  (1.1)|62 (1.5)|68 (1.8)| 7 (1.6)|501  (9.0)|71 (3.5)|536  (3.3)|17 (3.2)|549  (6.6)|  5 (1.5)|520  (8.7)
Chile ..................|50 (1.1)| 84 (0.9)|   51  (1.0)|72 (1.2)|57 (1.1)| 4 (1.5)|419  (9.9)|93 (1.9)|422  (4.2)| 2 (1.2)|---   --- |  0 (0.0)|394   ---
Chinese Taipei\3\ ......|50 (1.4)| 88 (0.7)|   61  (1.3)|52 (1.3)|29 (0.9)|---     |---   --- |--- --- |---   --- |--- --- |---   --- |---  --- |---   ---
Cyprus\2\ ..............|76 (0.9)| 86 (0.9)|   66  (1.0)|52 (1.1)|47 (1.2)|72 (3.7)|462  (3.3)|28 (3.7)|463  (5.5)| 0 (0.0)|---   --- |  0 (0.0)|---   ---
                        |        |         |            |        |        |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
England\2\ .............|53 (1.6)| 87 (0.9)|   63  (2.1)|55 (1.6)|28 (1.3)| 7  2.1 |582 (19.4)|72 (4.3)|532  (6.2)|17 (4.0)|568 (16.9)|  4 (1.6)|668 (21.8)
Hong Kong, SAR  ........|33 (1.0)| 86 (0.8)|   54  (1.1)|43 (1.1)|34 (1.1)| 4 (1.7)|525 (22.7)|79 (3.9)|532  (4.3)| 7 (2.3)|551  (9.4)| 10 (2.8)|514 (14.2)
Indonesia\4\ ...........|46 (1.1)| 87 (0.8)|   48  (1.7)|76 (1.1)|11 (0.8)|--- --- |---   --- |--- --- |---   --- |--- --- |---   --- |---  --- |---   ---
Iran, Islamic Republic .|49 (1.0)| 89 (0.7)|   43  (1.1)|38 (1.3)|33 (1.1)|29 (4.3)|455  (6.8)|54 (4.6)|445  (6.4)| 9 (2.5)|458 (11.5)|  8 (2.3)|454  (9.9)
Israel\1\ ..............|63 (1.2)| 62 (1.3)|   67  (1.5)|49 (1.5)|55 (1.5)|23 (3.2)|460 (11.6)|68 (3.7)|472  (6.9)| 9 (2.5)|467 (23.8)|  0 (0.0)|---   ---
                        |        |         |            |        |        |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
Italy ..................|49 (1.4)| 56 (1.5)|   38  (1.3)|35 (1.7)|30 (1.6)|27 (3.5)|498  (5.8)|71 (3.7)|490  (5.0)| 1 (0.9)|---   --- |  1 (0.8)|---   ---
Japan ..................|10 (0.8)| 74 (1.1)|   29  (1.3)|21 (0.8)| 7 (0.6)| 4 (1.3)|599 (14.2)|96 (1.3)|547  (2.4)| 0   (0.|---   --- |  0 (0.0)|---   ---
Jordan .................|71 (1.2)| 91 (0.8)|   50  (1.2)|55 (1.4)|57 (1.0)| 1  (0.0|---   --- |25 (3.6)|458  (9.4)|63 (4.1)|449  (4.8)| 11 (2.8)|441 (15.2)
Korea, Republic of .....|14 (0.8)| 73 (1.1)|   27  (0.8)|36 (1.0)|12 (0.6)|10 (1.9)|546  (4.7)|84 (2.6)|550  (2.8)| 4 (1.7)|531  (8.6)|  1 (0.8)|---   ---
Malaysia ...............|51 (1.0)| 89 (0.6)|   56  (1.2)|41 (1.5)|45 (1.3)| 1 (0.9)|---   --- |96 (1.8)|493  (4.6)| 3 (1.5)|497 (26.7)|  0 (0.0)|---   ---
                        |        |         |            |        |        |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
New Zealand ............|53 (1.4)| 81 (1.0)|   70  (1.6)|57 (1.6)|35 (1.8)| 2 (1.0)|---   --- |55 (4.1)|508  (6.5)|41 (4.0)|516  (8.9)|  2 (1.0)|---   ---
Philippines ............|77 (0.7)| 86 (0.8)|   64  (0.8)|64 (1.1)|51 (1.0)| 4 (1.4)|368 (35.3)| 2 (1.3)|---   --- | 2 (1.3)|---   --- | 92 (2.4)|347  (7.8)
Singapore ..............|58 (0.9)| 85 (0.9)|   75  (0.9)|39 (1.5)|44 (1.6)| 5 (1.9)|497 (38.7)|42 (4.2)|550 (14.1)|50 (4.2)|586  (8.6)|  4 (1.4)|608 (28.0)
South Africa ...........|71 (0.7)| 84 (1.1)|   68  (0.9)|66 (1.4)|67 (1.1)|26 (3.9)|235 (15.5)|33 (4.3)|256 (17.4)|33 (4.2)|251 (18.9)|  8 (2.4)|259 (31.6)
Thailand\1\.............|36 (1.2)| 75 (1.2)|   56  (1.1)|42 (1.7)|81 (0.8)| 1 (1.0)|---   --- |76 (4.2)|491  (5.5)| 0   (0.|---   --- | 23 (4.1)|461 (10.8)
                        |        |         |            |        |        |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
Tunisia ................|54 (1.2)| 79 (0.8)|   44  (1.2)|69 (0.9)|29 (1.0)|63 (4.1)|432  (4.2)|36 (4.1)|425  (4.3)| 1   (0.|---   --- |  0 (0.0)|---   ---
Turkey .................|32 (1.0)| 90 (0.7)|   38  (1.0)|29 (1.0)|22 (1.2)|12 (2.8)|439 (12.4)|82 (3.0)|432  (4.3)| 1 (0.7)|---   --- |  4 (1.4)|416 (17.8)
United States\1\ .......|63 (1.9)| 69 (1.4)|   76  (1.5)|59 (1.3)|57 (2.0)|11 (2.3)|521 (18.3)|16 (2.3)|533 (11.4)|61 (3.0)|523  (5.0)| 13 (2.0)|490  (8.0)
________________________|________|_________|____________|________|________|________|__________|________|__________|________|__________|_________|__________

---Not available.
\1\Teacher response data on hours taught weekly available for 70 to 84 percent of students.
\2\Teacher response data on hours taught weekly available for 50 to 69 percent of students.
\3\Students were asked about "natural science;" data pertain to grade 8 physics/chemistry.
\4\Students were asked about "IPA science;" data pertain to the composite course taught by biology and physics teachers
SAR=Special Administrative Region.

NOTE: Data are for 8th grade or equivalent in most countries. Standard errors appear in parentheses. In the 23 countries shown science is taught as a single subject. In other countries separate courses are offered in the different science subjects (earth science, biology, physics, and chemistry). Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Third International Mathematics and Science Study 1999, TIMSS 1999 International Science Report, by Michael O. Martin et al. Copyright @ 2000 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). (This table was prepared July 2001.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest