Not really a surprise that America is getting more uneducated. But how do American teens compare to the rest of the world when it comes to math and science? Not so hot.
The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) does a test every three years assessing 15 year old high school students in math, science, and reading in 57 countries and ranking them from Level 1 to 6, where Level 6 students can apply scientific knowledge and knowledge about science to complex life situations, and Level 1 students have very limited knowledge that can only be applied to familiar situations and don’t do so hot in society. The test is designed more around testing applications to everyday life rather than fact recollection.
So how where do U.S. students stand? Here’s the chart:
36 out of 57.
24.4 percent, almost a quarter of the U.S. students, are at a Level 1 or lower.
Here’s the full report. The test is done every three years, with a new one being done this year. With all the budget cuts in education I wouldn’t be expecting much, if any, of an improvement.
You probably already see where I’m going with this. BattleBots in high school is a program all about practical applications of math and science, and most importantly it makes it fun.
Furthermore, here’s some more fun facts gathered from another report on the top performers from this study.
Results indicate that print and television media have the most influence over students in communicating information about science
beyond the classroom (OECD, 2007).Top performers in science engage in science-related activities relatively more often than any other performance group. In particular, on average across the OECD countries, 38% reported reading science magazines or science articles in newspapers regularly or very often and 32% reported watching TV programmes about
science regularly or very often.
32% of the top performers watch TV Programs on science. I’m going to say a documentary on science would fit in that category too, as well as freely available media online.
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