Situation and problems of decrease of Japanese students in

Science and Technology fields

Yasushi OguraNational Institute for Educational Policy

Research of JapanOECD/GSF ‘Declining interest in science studies

among young people’ committee memberOECD/PISA Science Expert Group member

OECD/Japan Seminar in Tokyo, June 23-24, 2005

Is there a problem of declining interest among young people in studying S&T?

• PISA tells us the situation of how well young people are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge societies.

• PISA does not tell the situation of preparation of young people who are coming to Science and Technology (S&T) fields to study and work and then engage in researches, developments or productions in S&T.

• Researches on situations and causes of and effective measures to the problem have been analyzed.

Japanese students in Science and Technology are decreasing

• Decrease of the number of young people in S&T fields will lead the lack of human resources in researches, developments or productions in S&T fields.

• Number of students who study in S&T fields has been decreased in Japan.

• It is predicted that the number of students who study in S&T fields will be rapidly decreased.

Change in the number of new entrants to universities

Proportion of new entrants to universties by specialty(Based on MEXT 'Gakko- kihon Tyosa' data)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

HumanitiesSocial ScienceNatural SciencesEngineering ScienceAgricultureHealthMerchantHome EconomicsEducationArtsOthers

Change in the number of candidates to universities

Ratio of candidates for admission and entrants to universitiesby specialty (Based on MEXT 'Gakko-kihon Tyosa' data)

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

HumanitiesSocial ScienceNatural SciencesEngineering ScienceAgricultureHealth

Decrease of younger

population

Number of high school graduates will be decreased 20% in 2010 and 23% in 2020 from the in 2000.

Japanese students are less interested in S&T fields internationally

• Making it higher the proportion of students who want S&T studies and jobs in the same cohort can solve the problem of lacking human resource in S&T fields.

• There is a large room to elevate the level of interest among young people in S&T fields in Japan.

Interest in S&T jobs

'I would like a job that involved using science.'(IEA/TIMSS2003, Grade 8, Selected Countries)

ChineseTaipei

Italy

MalaysiaScotland

Singapore

Australia

England

HongKongJ apanKorea

NewZealand

Norway

UnitedStates

450

500

550

600

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80Percentage of students responded 'Agree a lot' or 'Agree a little'.

TIM

SS 2

003

Sci

ence

Sco

re

Motivation – comparison among OECD countries

Instrumental Motivation to do Mathematics & Mathematical Literacye.g. 'Making an effort in Mathematics is worth it because it will help me in the work

that I want to do later on.' (OECD/ PISA2003, Selected Countries)

Czech Republic

Ireland

J apan

KoreaNetherlands

New Zealand

NorwayPoland

Portugal

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Australia

Austria

BelgiumCanada

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Iceland

Italy

LuxembourgSlovak Republic

Sweden

Switzerland

450

475

500

525

550

-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Average of Index 'Instrumental Motivation to do Mathematics'

PIS

A 2

003

Mat

hem

atic

al L

itera

cy S

core

Motivation – comparison with other subjects

Proportions of students who think the study of each subject isimportant regardless of entrance examinations from grade 5 to 9

(Based on National Curriculum Assessment data: NIER, 2005)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

J apanese Social Math Science English

Per

cent

age

(%)

Grade 5Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8Grade 9

Researches on effective activities

• Increasing the number of students in S&T fields is urgent need in Japan. There have been various activities at elementary and secondary education. In 2002, MEXT has started national initiative called as ‘Kagaku-Gijyutsu Rika Daisuki Plan’ (Science Literacy Enhancement Initiatives, in english) in which various activities for promoting S&T education has been organized and supported.

• Some effective activities have been found from questionnaire surveys on randomly sampled schools and schools under the national support.

Effective activity – Science learning from science experts

'I want to listen to scientists or engineers talk.'and specialist visit study. (N=20984, Ogura, 2005)

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00

Grade5 Grade6 Grade7 Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

5.Strongly A

gree ← 3.N

either → 1.S

trongly Disagree

Without Specialist Visit Study With Specialist Visit Study National Average

All differences between groups of without andwith are statistically significant

Effective activity – Science learning by visiting science museums and research institutes

'I study and learn by myself what I am interested in about science.'and science museum study (N=20984, Ogura, 2005)

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Grade5 Grade6 Grade7 Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

5.Strongly A

gree ← 3.N

either → 1.S

trongly Disagree

Without Sci Museum Study With Sci Museum Study National Average

Differences in Grade 7 through Grade 12 between groups of withoutand with are statistically significant

Effective activity – Science learning by going out (field study)

'I am interested in studying life of plants and animals and their environment.'and field study experience. (N=20984, Ogura, 2005)

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Grade5 Grade6 Grade7 Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

5.Strongly A

gree ← 3.N

either → 1.S

trongly Disagree

Without Field Study Experience With Field Study Experience National Average

All differences except in Grade 5 between groups ofwithout and with are statistically significant

Effective activity – Science learning by doing a project

'Ability to solve questions and test hypotheses will be enhanced by learning science.'and science project during lesson. (N=20984, Ogura, 2005)

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Grade5 Grade6 Grade7 Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

5.Strongly A

gree ← 3.N

either → 1.S

trongly Disagree

Without Science Project during lesson With Science Project during lesson National Average

All differences between groups of without andwith are statistically significant

Effective activity – Independent scientific research

'I often read articles related to science in news papers, journals or books.'and experience of independent scientific research. (N=20984, Ogura, 2005)

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Grade5 Grade6 Grade7 Grade8 Grade9 Grade10 Grade11 Grade12

5.Strongly A

gree ← 3.N

either → 1.S

trongly Disagree

Without experience of independent scientific researchWith experience of independent scientific research3 times or more experiences of independent scientific researchNational Average

All differences between groups of withoutand with are statistically significant

‘Rika-daisuki schools’

• As a national measure, 105 elementary and 62 lower-secondary schools in 19 areas had been designated as ‘Rika-daisuki schools’ for two years since 2003.

• In designated schools, science and mathematics programs with focusing on observations and experiments, enrichment of elective subjects and advanced learning had been practiced.

• Designated schools were not special ones, and participated students were not selected and essentially the same group of students in normal schools at the start of the program.

A B

GROUP

5.00 7.50 10.00 12.50 15.00

School Average of Scientific Activities(Less number means more frequent activities)

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

Scho

ol Average for Q

2_15

Relationship between intensity of scientific school activitiesand awareness of science at 6th grade level

Y=4. 65 - 0. 08 * X

R2 = 0. 17

Group A:National SampleSchools (n=68)Group B:Rika-daisukiElementarySchools (n=100)

( Q2_15: 'Abili ty tosolve questionsand test hypotheses w ill be enhancedby lea rning science.)

Based on the datafrom Ogura (2005),Ogura , JST (2005)

A B

GROUP

5.00 7.50 10.00 12.50 15.00

School Average of Scientific Activities(Less number means more frequent activities)

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

Scho

ol Ave

rage for Q2_1

5

Group A:National SampleSchools (n=74)Group B:Rika-daisukiJunior-highSchools (n=55)

Y=4. 24 - 0. 07 * XR2 = 0. 12

Relationship between intensity of scientific school activitiesand awareness of science at 8th grade level

( Q2_15: 'Ability tosolve questionsand test hypotheses will be enhancedby learning science.)

Based on the datafrom Ogura (2005),Ogura, JST (2005)

‘Super Science High schools’

• As a major national measure, 26 upper-secondary schools had been designated as ‘Super Science High-schools (SSH)’ for three years since 2002. (This program has been expanded and continued.)

• In designated schools, special programs focusing on science, mathematics and technology, with emphasis on cooperative measures with universities and research institutes had been practiced.

• Designated schools were relatively high achievement schools, and participated students have had higher level of interest in science learning from the start of the program.

A C

GROUP

5.00 7.50 10.00 12.50 15.00

School Average of Scientific Activities(Less number means more frequent activities)

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

Scho

ol Ave

rage for Q

2_15

Y=4. 76 - 0. 12 * XR2 = 0. 44

Relationship between intensity of scientific school activitiesand awareness of science at 12th grade level

Group A:National SampleSchools (n=79)Group C:Super-Science HighSchools (SSH) (n=26)

( Q2_15: 'Ability tosolve questionsand test hypotheses will be enhancedby learning science.)

Based on the datafrom Ogura (2005),Ogura, JST (2005)

Suggestions – Providing for more students and in more frequently

A.opportunities to learn science from science expertsB.opportunities to visit science museums and research

institutes to learn scienceC.opportunities to go for field and study science in

nature with living thingsD.opportunities to do science projects in science

lessonsE.supports to develop their own scientific researches As the level of interest in S&T fields improves,F. expanding the proportion of admission of new

entrants in Engineering Science and Natural Science