Top Countries for Science and Math Education: Finland, Hong Kong and Korea
Posted on December 7, 2010 Comments (15)
The 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report has been released. The report examines the science of 15 year olds from 57 countries in math, science and reading. The main focus of PISA 2009 was reading. the survey also updated performance assessments in mathematics and science. The emphasis is on mastering processes, understanding concepts and functioning in various contexts within each assessment area. the PISA 2012 survey will return to mathematics as the major assessment area, PISA 2015 will focus on science.
Results for the Science portion (rank – country – mean score)(I am not listing all countries):
- 1 – Finland – 554
- 2 – Hong Kong – 549
- 3 – Japan – 539
- 4 – Korea – 538
- 5 – New Zealand – 532
- 6 – Canada – 529
- 7 – Estonia – 528
- 8 – Australia – 527
- 9 – Netherlands – 522
- 10 – Taiwan – 520
- 11 – Germany – 520
- 14 – United Kingdom – 514
- 21 – USA – 502 (up from 489 and 29th place in 2006)
- OECD average – 501
- 25 – France – 498
- 46 – Mexico – 416
- 49 – Brazil – 405
Results for the math portion (rank – country – mean score)(I am not listing all countries):
- 1 – Taiwan – 549
- 2 – Finland – 548
- 3 – Hong Kong – 547
- 4 – Korea – 547
- 5 – Netherlands – 531
- 6 – Switzerland – 530
- 7 – Canada – 527
- 10 – Japan – 523
- 20 – Germany – 504
- OECD average – 497
- 23 – France – 496
- 24 – United Kingdom – 495
- 35 – USA – 474
- 48 – Mexico – 406
Related: USA Teens 29th in Science – Best Research University Rankings (2008) – The Importance of Science Education – Country H-index Rank for Science Publications – posts on science education
Methods:
- around 470 000 students completed the assessment in 2009, representing about 26 million 15-year-olds in the schools of the 65 participating countries and economies. Some 50,000 students took part in a second round of this assessment in 2010, representing about 2 million 15-year-olds from 10 additional partner countries and economies.
- each participating student spent two hours carrying out pencil-and-paper tasks in reading, mathematics and science. in 20 countries, students were given additional questions via computer to assess their capacity to read digital texts.
- the assessment included tasks requiring students to construct their own answers as well as multiple-choice questions. the latter were typically organised in units based on a written passage or graphic, much like the kind of texts or figures that students might encounter in real life.
- Students also answered a questionnaire that took about 30 minutes
15 Responses to “Top Countries for Science and Math Education: Finland, Hong Kong and Korea”
Leave a Reply
RSS Feed
December 8th, 2010 @ 1:31 am
I’m from Canada so it’s nice to see that we made the list.
December 8th, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
I wonder why we’ve moved up since 2006. Anything we’ve improved since then or perhaps other countries inbetween just moved down a little and the difference in the score was not significant.
December 11th, 2010 @ 6:45 pm
I am from Indonesia, Indonesian unfortunately not like them. but at least I am from Asia, there are four Asian countries on the list. They are tiger asia. thanks for the info.
December 12th, 2010 @ 10:22 am
I don’t really trust in these PISA rankings—the scholar systems are too different to be compared in a fair way. Moreover I think it is easier to organise education in small countries like Finland or the Netherlands rather than the USA …
December 13th, 2010 @ 8:56 pm
Anonymous said: “I wonder why we’ve moved up since 2006. Anything we’ve improved since then or perhaps other countries inbetween just moved down a little and the difference in the score was not significant.”
I think it is because the USA public schools started compensating teachers based on standardized test scores. They might not have learned any more info, but they certainly are better at taking tests.
December 14th, 2010 @ 2:05 pm
Ah, those crazy Finns.. what else they have to do but study. I’ll bet they don’t get MTV there.. hmmm.
December 22nd, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
I’m David from Australia so it’s nice to see that we made the list.
December 22nd, 2010 @ 2:08 pm
I think the problem with the UK is that school isn’t ‘cool’ and kids are more bothered about their ‘street cred’ and their appearance. Having said that, grades are improving every year and I am therefore more interested in more advanced tests, particularly in maths, for graduates. It would be interesting to see how high the high flyers fly in each country. Having completed a maths degree myself, I know the opportunities in the UK are limited outside of London and perhaps this affects results?
April 6th, 2011 @ 12:19 pm
Thankfully a few foundations, with HHMI probably leading the way, and some great schools have kept the USA in a leadership position, but that leadership shrinks each year. And at the primary and secondary school level the USA dropped far back in the pack decades ago for science eduction The top countries in primary and secondary science education are now Finland, Hong Kong and Korea…
April 27th, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
“I think the problem with the UK is that school isn’t ‘cool’ and kids are more bothered about their ‘street cred’ and their appearance.”
Same thing’s happening over here with th’ yanks as well..
May 5th, 2011 @ 8:12 am
for someone who is trying to talk about education, you seem to not understand that hong kong is a city…
May 17th, 2011 @ 11:07 pm
top h-index scores by country: USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan…
July 9th, 2011 @ 7:25 pm
It is really sad to see America with such a wealth of resources and with a historical record of such great innovation to be way way down on this list. It is worrisome development for the future.
February 9th, 2012 @ 9:33 pm
Hong Kong is a city in China…… The stupidity of my country continues to amaze me.
February 14th, 2012 @ 4:47 pm
“for someone who is trying to talk about education, you seem to not understand that hong kong is a city…”
“Hong Kong is a city in China…… The stupidity of my country continues to amaze me.”
The ignorance of both if you profoundly amazes me. Hong Kong isn’t part of China, it’s an independent city-state, with its own political system and autonomy from PRC (People’s Republic of China).
Sure Hong Kong technically falls under the banner of China, but not any more than Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. Hong Kong is recognized by most International bodies as a sovereign state, irregardless of its political affiliations with mainland China.