Alberta students are near the top of the world when it comes to science, says an international study, but need to do more to get women into science and engineering.
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development released the results of the 2015 PISA study Tuesday.
The Programme of International Student Assessment tests math, reading, and science skills in 15-year-olds in 72 nations and is considered an international benchmark for education quality. Some 2,500 Alberta students took the test.
Alberta placed second overall in the test's rankings for science, which was the focus of this year's test.
The study also found a persistent gender gap when it came to women in science and engineering, with boys twice as likely to expect to become engineers and girls three times as likely to expect to become doctors.
"The difference is not how good they are at science but in their attitudes towards science," said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria, speaking at the study's launch in London, U.K. Previous PISA studies have found that this gender gap was being reinforced by gender biases in parents, teachers, and textbooks.
"Stereotyping starts at home."
How to win at science
Kari Lagadyn, chemistry and physics teacher at école Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d'Youville, said she wasn't surprised by Alberta's strong showing, crediting it to regular updates to the provincial science curriculum. She personally tapped the latest research from groups such as the Perimeter Institute to inform her lessons, and attended regular teacher training sessions.
Alberta also introduces science early in the curriculum, with students doing chemistry as early as Grade 5, noted Margaret-Ann Armour, associate dean of science (diversity) at the University of Alberta.
"This is great, because it gets kids interested (in science)."
The PISA study found that students whose teachers frequently explained and demonstrated scientific principles, discussed student questions and adapted their methods to meet student needs were more likely to have higher scores, a stronger interest in science and more plans to pursue a scientific career.
Lagadyn said she frequently holds demonstrations and field trips to explain lessons, and has a small enough class size to adapt her teaching technique to her students.
The study also found that students with frequent exposure to enquiry-based learning – where they are encouraged to experiment and do hands-on activities – scored lower on the PISA test but were more likely to expect to get into science-related careers.
"I don't believe you can solely do one or the other," Lagadyn said, when asked about enquiry versus traditional teaching techniques. She might burn some magnesium to draw student interest and get them to explore the results, but she also builds on that exploration with traditional lectures.
The study found that students at schools with science contests scored higher and were about 55 per cent more likely to expect to work in a science-related field.
Lagadyn said her students participate in many science competitions, such as the Science Olympics.
"Kids thrive on challenge," she said, and these contests give them a chance to apply their skills and see other ideas in action.
When it comes to the gender gap, Armour, who is the founding chair of the Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST) program at the U of A, said the best way to close it was to make science relevant to students.
"There's an awful lot of physics that goes on in the kitchen," she said as an example, and kitchen-based questions are a lot more student-relevant than ones about pushing blocks up a hill.
Programs such as WISEST can also help by giving students a chance to try science for themselves.
"I always liken it to reading a cookbook," she said.
"It's only when you actually get to do the cooking or the baking that you get interested."
Teachers need to get away from stereotypes, Lagadyn said. She treats the boys and girls in her class as equally bright, and tries to be a role-model of a non-stereotypical science teacher.
"I have a couple of students right now, females, who are looking at going into mathematics and engineering, and there's more and more each year," she said.
The PISA report can be found at www.oecd.org/pisa.
