Minds on Science Gazette

The Case

At recent conference on science teaching it was reported that:

• U.S. 5th graders performed at about the average level of the 15 countries in an international study.

• U.S. grade 9 students and advanced science students (second year biology, chemistry and physics) had lower performance levels than their counterparts in most other countries.

• Only 42 percent of the U.S. 13-year-olds demonstrated an ability to use scientific procedures and analyze scientific data, compared to more than 70 percent in Korea and British Columbia.

A professor from a very prestigious American university reported the results to an audience of about 500 science educators. To make the results more visual, the professor showed a number of graphics showing the results among more than ten countries who had participated in an international test of science proficiency. One graphic that was shown compared ninth grade student's ability to analyze experiments (Figure 5. ). On this ability the U.S. ranked 9th out of 12 competing countries. A teacher from the audience disputed the professor's results claiming that these other countries have different goals and commitments to science, and the comparison wasn't fair.

A number of other teacher seemed to agree because they started nodding their heads in agreement. The professor, who appeared unshaken by the response, went on to describe other areas where U.S. students lagged behind their counterparts.

The Problem

If you were in the audience, how would you react to the professor's test results? Would you side with the teachers? Why?