Analysis: Brazilian Students Like Science but Are Massacred by the Content

12/07/2016 - 01h04

The results of the international PISA exam reveal a national schizophrenia. Students here in Brazil like science more than other students in more developed countries, but based on international comparative evaluations, their performance is much lower.

According to the PISA evaluation, 40% of students here in Brazil declared that they want to follow careers related to science and technology - a rate higher than the 24% found in OECD countries.

More: half of Brazilian students confirm that they are interested in science - the focus of PISA this year. Students here in Brazil said that they even find scientific content to be fun.

The problem is that when the test is administered, students studying in Brazil only get correct answers on 30,6% of questions related to science.

To better illustrate the significance of this, in Finland, a country recognized as a worldwide reference in education, the correct answer index reaches 56,4%.

Less than half of Brazilian students know the basics of science.

Those who are curious like science. Kids are naturally curious. The way in which scientific content reaches the students, however, ends up resulting in nobody learning anything.

Research conducted by the NGO Education for All reveals that there are more mathematicians teaching physics in Brazilian schools than actual licensed physicists.

Within its limits the exam reveals, once again, that the problem isn't with the young people themselves but with their education.

Without professors with degrees in science, without laboratories and without science exhibits at museums, there is no overall stimulation of interest and not even curiosity itself can guarantee that any level of learning takes place.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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