Session Information
09 SES 01 A, Findings from PISA: Challenges of Cross-Cultural Validity (Part 1)
Paper Session
Contribution
At the present time, knowledge of science is more important than ever. Science is relevant to everyone’s life, so an understanding of science is an essential tool for people to achieve their goals (Lee & Fradd, 1996; OCED, 2006). Indeed, empirical studies show the positive significant relationships between formal scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science (Sturgis & Allum, 2004; Bybee, 2008), Other studies have shown that attitudes and interests established in early childhood play an important role on lifelong scientific literacy (Schroeder et al, 2009). Additionally, many studies indicate that scientific interest is the most strongly related to family background characteristics, particularly parental education, income, and young adults’ socioeconomic outcomes, and they also found that parental education and family income are positively correlated with the probability that young adults pursue post-secondary education (Sandefur et al, 2005). In some studies, the father’s socioeconomic characteristics and the father’s occupation were predictors of scientific knowledge among boys (Mark, 2008). In previous studies, the determinants of schooling quality across countries were studied using cross-cultural regression, specifying and estimating linear models for the relationship between schooling quality and its determinants (Barro & Lee, 2001). Hanushek and Kimko (2000) and Hanushek and Luque (2003) found that adult schooling levels also had a positive and significant effect on student performance.
This is a cross-cultural study, performing a secondary analysis to explore how different cultural and geographic contexts can influence the predictors of students’ performance, particularly in regards to their attitudes and knowledge about science. The study involves four European (Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Germany) and four Asian (Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Japan) countries that present a diverse profile in terms of PISA 2006 results, below (Portugal, Spain, Thailand and Indonesia) and above (Belgium, Germany, Korea and Japan) the international mean for scientific literacy. The goal of this study is to explore how variables such as individual characteristics, family background, school learning and scientific interest and self-efficacy predict students’ knowledge and attitudes towards science, and how these predictors vary as a function of cultural context and national OECD average.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Barro, R., & Lee, J-W. (2001). Schooling quality in a cross-section of countries. Economica, 68, 465-488. Bybee, R. W. (2008). Scientific Literacy, Environmental Issues, and PISA 2006: The 2008 Paul F-Brandwein Lecture. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17 (6), 566-585 Hanushek, E., & Kimko, D. (2000). Schooling, labar force quality, and economic growth. Amarican Economic Review, 90, 1184-1208. Hanushek, E., & Luque, J. (2003). Efficiency and equity in schools around the world. Economics of Education Review, 22, 481-502. Lee, O., & Fradd, S. H. (1996). Literacy skills in science learning among linguistically diverse students, Science Education, 80, 651-671. Mark, G. N. (2008). Gender Differences in the Effects of Socioeconomic Background: Recent Cross-National Evidence. Journal of International Sociology, 23 (6), 845-863. OECD (2006). Assessing Scientific, Reading and Mathematical Literacy: A Framework for 2006. OECD publications, Paris. Sandefur, G.D., Eggerling-Boeck, J., & Park, H. (2005). “Off to a Good Start? Postsecondary Education and Early Adult Life” in On the Frontier to Adulthood. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 292-320. Schroeder, M., Mckeough, A., Graham, S., Stock, H., & Bisanz, G. (2009). The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science Literacy: In and Out of School, Journal of Research in Science Education, 39 (2), 231-250. Sturgis, P., & Allum, N. (2004). Science in society: re-evaluating the deficit model of public attitudes, Public Understanding of Science, 13 (1), 55-75.
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