Average 4th-grade science scores, by content areas, average time spent teaching science in school, and country: 1995

Table 408.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                        |          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\1,2\..........|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\1\ .............|66(0.7)|62(0.8)|72(0.7)| 64(0.8)|   54  (1.0) |  # (#) |--- (---) |  # (#) |--- (---) | 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\3,4\............|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, SAR\5\ ......|62 (0.7|61  (0.|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\1\ .............|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\2\ .............|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\1,2,6\ ..........|57(0.8)|51(0.8)|61(0.9)| 55(0.9)|   51  (1.3) |  # (#) |--- (---) | 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) |  # (#) |--- (---) |  1(0.6)|--- (---) | 95(1.8)| 597(1.9) |  5(1.7) | 588(10.3)
                        |       |       |       |        |             |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
Kuwait\1,2\ ............|39(0.5)|36(0.6)|45(0.6)| 37(0.5)|   25  (0.7) |  # (#) |--- (---) |  1(0.7)|--- (---) | 96(2.0)| 402(3.9) |  4(1.8) | 416(42.2)
Latvia (Latvian-        |       |       |       |        |             |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
 speaking schools\1,6\ .|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\1\ .........|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\2\ .........|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\2\ ..............|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) |  # (#) |--- (---) |  # (#)  |--- (---)
                        |       |       |       |        |             |        |          |        |          |        |          |         |
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\2,3\ ..........|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) |  # (#) |--- (---) |  4(1.5)| 548(18.9)| 96(1.5)| 547(5.1) |  # (#)  |--- (---)
Slovenia\1\ ............|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\1,2\ ..........|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\2\ .......|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. #Rounds to zero.
\1\Did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates, age/grade specification, or classroom sampling procedures.
\2\Teacher response rate for number of hours science is taught is 84 percent or less, with missing data having not been explicitly accounted for in the analysis.
\3\Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
\4\National defined population covers less than 90 percent of international desired population.
\5\SAR=Special Administrative Region.
\6\National defined population does not cover all of international desired population.

NOTE: Data are for 4th-grade or equivalent in most countries. Possible scores range from 1 to 1,000. 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.)

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