Students from Singapore and Korea come out tops when it comes to creative problem-solving, in a Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
85,000 15-year-old students from 44 countries participated in the online test, which measures the skills of young people in solving everyday problems, such as finding the quickest route to a destination.
20 percent of students from Singapore, Korea and Japan were able to solve the most complex problems, compared to 11.4 percent of students across OECD countries.
The results revealed that doing well in school subjects like mathematics or science didn't necessarily translate into doing well in the problem-solving test. Students from Japan, the UK and US, for example, fared better in problem-solving than in key school subjects.
There impact of socio-economic status on problem-solving is also lower as compared to the other PISA subjects of mathematics, reading and science. However, disadvantaged students are still twice as likely, on average, to have the lowest scores compared to their more privileged peers.
While gender gaps in problem-solving are small, the highest-performing students are largely boys, except in Australia, Finland and Norway.
Stressing on the importance of problem-solving skills, Andreas Schleicher, acting director of education and skills at the OECD, said “Policy makers and educators should reshape their school systems and curricula to help students develop their problem-solving skills which are increasingly needed in today’s economies.”
Photo: AFP
Students from Singapore and Korea come out tops when it comes to creative problem-solving, in a Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
85,000 15-year-old students from 44 countries participated in the online test, which measures the skills of young people in solving everyday problems, such as finding the quickest route to a destination.
20 percent of students from Singapore, Korea and Japan were able to solve the most complex problems, compared to 11.4 percent of students across OECD countries.
The results revealed that doing well in school subjects like mathematics or science didn't necessarily translate into doing well in the problem-solving test. Students from Japan, the UK and US, for example, fared better in problem-solving than in key school subjects.
There impact of socio-economic status on problem-solving is also lower as compared to the other PISA subjects of mathematics, reading and science. However, disadvantaged students are still twice as likely, on average, to have the lowest scores compared to their more privileged peers.
While gender gaps in problem-solving are small, the highest-performing students are largely boys, except in Australia, Finland and Norway.
Stressing on the importance of problem-solving skills, Andreas Schleicher, acting director of education and skills at the OECD, said “Policy makers and educators should reshape their school systems and curricula to help students develop their problem-solving skills which are increasingly needed in today’s economies.”
Photo: AFP