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


Table 405. Average fourth grade science scores,\1\ by content areas, and average time spent teaching science in school, by country: 1995

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                         |              Science content areas                 |Average number of hours science is taught weekly to science classes
         Country         |____________________________________________________|_______________________________________________________________________________________________
                         |          |        |         |        |Environmental|                       |                       |                       |
                         |Overall   |        |         |        |issues and   |  Less than 1 hour     |  1 to  2 hours        |    2 to 3 hours       |More than 3 hours
                         |science   |Earth   |Life     |Physical|the nature   |_______________________|_______________________|_______________________|_______________________
                         |scores    |science |science  |science |of science   |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\2,3\...........|  66 (0.5)|61 (0.6)|72 (0.5) |63 (0.7)|     63 (0.8)|  35 (3.9)| 556 (5.0)  |  55 (4.0)| 568 (5.9)  |   5 (1.5)| 562 (18.1) |   5 (2.1)| 562 (8.4)
Austria\2\ ..............|  66 (0.7)|62 (0.8)|72 (0.7) |64 (0.8)|     54 (1.0)|   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |  97 (1.8)| 566 (3.6)  |   3 (1.8)| 540 (30.3)
Canada ..................|  64 (0.6)|62 (0.6)|68 (0.6) |61 (0.7)|     56 (0.7)|   8 (2.0)| 536 (10.1) |  42 (3.8)| 542 (5.1)  |  27 (3.3)| 567 (5.4)  |  23 (3.2)| 550 (4.6)
Cyprus ..................|  51 (0.5)|48 (0.7)|55 (0.5) |50 (0.7)|     42 (1.0)|---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---
Czech Republic ..........|  65 (0.5)|64 (0.6)|71 (0.5) |62 (0.7)|     56 (0.9)|   2 (1.1)|---  ---    |  79 (3.6)| 557 (3.9)  |   3 (1.4)| 572 (6.8)  |  16 (3.2)| 563 (7.3)
                         |          |        |         |        |             |          |            |          |            |          |            |          |
England\4,5\.............|  63 (0.6)|61 (0.6)|68 (0.6) |60 (0.8)|     56 (1.0)|   6 (1.7)| 540 (8.7)  |  27 (4.1)| 548 (7.5)  |  44 (4.8)| 556 (5.9)  |  23 (3.8)| 550 (8.2)
Greece ..................|  54 (0.8)|52 (0.9)|61 (0.9) |49 (0.9)|     43 (1.2)|---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---
Hong Kong ...............|  62  0.7 |61  0.6 |68 (0.7) |60 (0.8)|     50 (1.1)|  13 (3.4)| 530 (13.3) |  84 (3.7)| 534 (4.3)  |   2 (1.5)|---  ---    |   1 (0.8)|---  ---
Hungary\2\ ..............|  62 (0.6)|62 (0.7)|66 (0.6) |59 (0.8)|     50 (0.9)|   6 (2.2)| 556 (13.3) |  72 (4.1)| 529 (3.7)  |   8 (3.0)| 521 (8.4)  |  14 (3.1)| 549 (10.5)
Iceland\3\ ..............|  55 (0.7)|55 (0.7)|60 (0.8) |52 (0.7)|     47 (1.2)|  17 (4.1)| 513 (7.3)  |  41 (5.6)| 504 (7.7)  |  30 (5.1)| 499 (6.5)  |  12 (4.3)| 523 (6.8)
Iran, Islamic Republic ..|  40 (0.7)|38 (0.7)|44 (0.7) |40 (0.9)|     26 (0.9)|---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---    |---  ---  |---  ---
                         |          |        |         |        |             |          |            |          |            |          |            |          |
Ireland .................|  61 (0.6)|60 (0.8)|66 (0.6) |57 (0.7)|     55 (0.9)|  47 (5.0)| 536 (5.6)  |  40 (4.4)| 540 (5.8)  |  11 (3.1)| 550 (7.1)  |   2 (0.9)|---  ---
Israel\2,3,6\ ...........|  57 (0.8)|51 (0.8)|61 (0.9) |55 (0.9)|     51 (1.3)|   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |  53 (5.6)| 508 (5.5)  |  32 (5.8)| 494 (6.9)  |  15 (4.3)| 493 (10.6)
Japan  ..................|  70 (0.3)|66 (0.4)|73 (0.3) |70 (0.4)|     62 (0.6)|   2 (1.3)|---  ---    |   1 (0.6)|---  ---    |  95 (1.8)| 575 (1.8)  |   2 (1.2)|---  ---
Korea, Republic of ......|  74 (0.4)|72 (0.5)|76 (0.4) |75 (0.5)|     70 (0.8)|   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |   1 (0.6)|---  ---    |  95 (1.8)| 597 (1.9)  |   5 (1.7)| 588 (10.3)
Kuwait\2,3\ .............|  39 (0.5)|36 (0.6)|45 (0.6) |37 (0.5)|     25 (0.7)|   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |   1 (0.7)|---  ---    |  96 (2.0)| 402 (3.9)  |   4 (1.8)| 416 (42.2)
                         |          |        |         |        |             |          |            |          |            |          |            |          |
Latvia (Latvian-         |          |        |         |        |             |          |            |          |            |          |            |          |
 speaking schools\2\ ....|  56 (0.8)|57 (1.0)|60 (0.8) |54 (0.9)|     46 (1.2)|  89 (2.9)| 505 (5.7)  |   5 (2.2)| 538 (47.2) |   5 (2.2)| 532 (11.9) |   1 (0.8)|---  ---
Netherlands\2\ ..........|  67 (0.5)|61 (0.6)|73 (0.5) |65 (0.6)|     61 (0.9)|  38 (5.1)| 559 (4.0)  |  44 (4.8)| 556 (4.5)  |   9 (2.6)| 556 (7.2)  |   9 (2.7)| 549 (20.1)
New Zealand\3\ ..........|  60 (0.9)|57 (0.9)|66 (0.9) |57 (1.1)|     54 (1.2)|  29 (4.2)| 542 (8.3)  |  48 (4.4)| 536 (6.1)  |  14 (3.1)| 537 (17.2) |   9 (2.6)| 509 (21.2)
Norway\3\ ...............|  60 (0.6)|60 (0.6)|67 (0.7) |55 (0.7)|     53 (0.9)|  73 (5.0)| 527 (5.4)  |  27 (5.0)| 535 (7.6)  |   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |   0 (0.0)|---  ---
Portugal ................|  50 (0.7)|50 (0.8)|54 (0.8) |49 (0.9)|     39 (1.0)|   2 (1.1)|---  ---    |   3 (1.4)| 486 (28.2) |  12 (3.1)| 474 (8.8)  |  84 (3.6)| 481 (4.8)
                         |          |        |         |        |             |          |            |          |            |          |            |          |
Scotland\3,4\ ...........|  60 (0.8)|58 (0.9)|65 (0.8) |57 (0.8)|     53 (1.2)|  35 (4.7)| 543 (5.9)  |  44 (4.7)| 534 (6.4)  |  14 (3.3)| 531 (13.2) |   7 (2.5)| 529 (12.5)
Singapore ...............|  64 (0.8)|58 (0.8)|70 (0.8) |64 (0.8)|     53 (1.1)|   0 (0.0)|---  ---    |   4 (1.5)| 548 (18.9) |  96 (1.5)| 547 (5.1)  |   0 (0.0)|---  ---
Slovenia\2\ .............|  64 (0.7)|64 (0.7)|68 (0.7) |61 (0.8)|     54 (0.8)|   3 (1.9)| 544 (18.9) |  60 (5.3)| 541 (4.6)  |  18 (4.0)| 550 (9.5)  |  19 (3.4)| 548 (6.8)
Thailand\2,3\ ...........|  49 (0.9)|48 (0.9)|52 (0.8) |46 (1.0)|     48 (1.4)|   2 (1.2)|---  ---    |   9 (3.5)| 463 (21.5) |  17 (6.1)| 469 (16.5) |  73 (6.6)| 477 (6.5)
United States\3\ ........|  66 (0.5)|64 (0.7)|71 (0.6) |60 (0.6)|     65 (0.8)|   9 (2.1)| 562 (11.5) |  16 (2.9)| 550 (10.2) |  33 (3.8)| 578 (5.9)  |  42 (4.1)| 565 (5.1)
_________________________|__________|________|_________|________|_____________|__________|____________|__________|____________|__________|____________|__________|____________

---Not available.
\1\Fourth grade or equivalent in most countries.
\2\Did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates, age/grade specification, or classroom sampling procedures.
\3\Teacher response rate for number of hours science is taught is 84 percent or less.
\4\Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
\5\National defined population covers less than 90 percent of international desired population.
\6\National defined population does not cover all of international desired population.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Science Achievement in the Primary School Years: IEA's Third International Mathematics and Science Study, 1997, by Albert E. Beaton et al. Copyright @ 1997 Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. (This table was prepared July 1997.)


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