Korean Students' Environmental Knowledge : From the Perspectives of International Comparative Studies in Science

우리 나라 학생들의 환경 관련 지식 수준 - 과학과 국제 비교 연구 결과를 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to verify the trends of Korean students'environmental science achievement in recent two international comparative studies, TIMSS-R and PISA 2000. Participants of TIMSS-R and PISA 2000 were 8th graders and 15-years-olds, respectively. The science items in TIMSS-R assess students'science concepts in the science curriculum and science items in PISA 2000 assess scientific literacy in the 21s1 daily life. To achieve this purpose, the 14 environmental knowledge items in TIMSS-R and 16 environmental knowledge items in PISA 2000 were analyzed. As a result of the comparison between Korean- and international percent correct, Korean students showed especially higher achievement in 'resources'or'ecosystem'items. On the contrary, Korean students showed relatively lower achievement in'biotechnology'or'environmental health'items. In general, Korean female students showed lower achievement than their male counterparts. The relationship among environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior should be examined more systematically.