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Digest of Education Statistics
2007 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 397. Average fourth-grade science scores in content areas and average time spent teaching science in school, by country: 2003
Country or other jurisdiction Average score by content area Average yearly
science instructional
time in hours
Science instructional
time as a percent of total instructional time1
Science overall Life science Physical science Earth science
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Armenia 437   (4.3) 435   (4.4) 429   (4.3) 450   (3.6)   (†)   (†)  
Australia 521 2  (4.2) 523 2  (3.8) 518 2  (3.9) 518 2  (4.1) 45 3  (2.6) 5   (0.3)  
Austria   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Belgium (Flemish) 518   (1.8) 524   (1.7) 507   (2.3) 522   (1.7)   (†)   (†)
Canada   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
             
Chinese Taipei 551   (1.7) 540   (1.6) 554   (2.0) 559   (2.6) 84   (1.0) 11   (0.2)
Cyprus 480   (2.4) 482   (2.1) 479   (2.3) 487   (2.5) 46 3  (1.4) 5   (0.2)
Czech Republic   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
England 540 2  (3.6) 532 2  (3.1) 546 2  (3.2) 535 2  (3.5)   (†)   (†)
Greece   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
             
Hong Kong, SAR4  542 2  (3.1) 535 2  (2.6) 548 2  (2.7) 536 2  (2.7) 77 3  (5.4) 8   (0.5)
Hungary 530   (3.0) 536   (2.5) 526   (2.7) 526   (3.7) 54 3  (1.0) 6   (0.1)
Iceland   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Iran, Islamic Republic of 414   (4.1) 424   (4.6) 419   (4.5) 428   (3.0)   (†)   (†)
Ireland   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
             
Israel   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Italy 516   (3.8) 521   (3.5) 512   (3.5) 519   (3.7) 73 5  (2.3) 8 5  (0.3)
Japan 543   (1.5) 530   (1.3) 557   (1.7) 535   (1.9) 81   (1.2) 8   (0.2)
Korea, Republic of6    (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Kuwait   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
             
Latvia 532   (2.5) 531   (2.3) 532   (2.6) 534   (2.9)   (†)   (†)
Lithuania 512   (2.6) 516 2,7  (2.0) 512 2,7  (2.5) 503 2,7  (3.2) 53   (1.6) 6   (0.2)
Netherlands 525 2  (2.0) 547 2  (1.8) 505 2  (1.9) 503 2  (2.3) 33 3  (1.8) 3   (0.2)
New Zealand 520   (2.5) 520   (2.3) 516   (2.3) 522   (2.3) 65 3  (3.5) 7   (0.4)
Norway 466   (2.6) 480   (2.2) 456   (2.3) 473   (2.8) 38 5  (1.8) 4 5  (0.2)
             
Philippines 332   (9.4) 330   (9.0) 343   (9.6) 324   (9.2) 176 5  (3.2) 16 5  (0.4)
Portugal   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Russian Federation 526   (5.2) 526   (4.7) 527   (5.2) 527   (6.0) 33 3  (1.2) 5   (0.2)
Scotland 502 2  (2.9) 506 2  (3.1) 503 2  (2.6) 498 2  (2.6)   (†)   (†)
Singapore 565   (5.5) 506   (3.1) 503   (2.6) 498   (2.6) 64   (0.6) 7   (0.1)
             
Slovenia 490   (2.5) 489   (2.9) 497   (2.3) 490   (2.7) 75 5  (2.2) 9 5  (0.3)
Thailand   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Tunisia 314   (5.7) 290   (5.9) 324   (5.3) 336   (4.8)   (†)   (†)
United States 536 2  (2.5) 537 2  (2.2) 531 2  (2.3) 535 2  (2.5) 83 5  (3.0) 8 5  (0.3)
— Not available.
† Not applicable.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
1 Computed as the ratio of science instructional time to the total instructional time averaged across students.
2 Met guidelines for participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
3 Data are available for at least 50 but less than 70 percent of the students.
4 SAR = Special Administrative Region.
5 Data are available for at least 70 but less than 85 percent of the students.
6 Korea tested the same cohort of students as other countries, but later in 2003, at the beginning of the next school year.
7 National Desired Population does not cover all of International Desired Population.
NOTE: Data are for fourth grade or equivalent in most countries. Possible scores range from 0 to 1,000. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2003, TIMSS 2003 International Science Report, by Michael O. Martin et al. (This table was prepared October 2005.)

2007 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest