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The OECD’s PISA 2006 assessment of the science competencies of 15-year-olds offers the first comprehensive international comparison of what students know about the environment and environment-related issues. This evidence comes at a time when global environmental challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity, have never been greater. Young people’s knowledge, skills and attitudes in this area will be crucial in terms of the ability and willingness of a new generation to respond to these challenges.
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Never have the stakes been so high for the role of science education in shaping how people interact with the earth and its environment. The rising importance of the environment as a scientific and public policy topic over the past fifty years has been built around a framework stressing the functional interdependencies between human life and the natural environment. As science about the environment generates even more knowledge, increasingly large proportions of the world’s population are challenged to understand and use this knowledge (Kastens and Turrin, 2006; NA S, 2007; Bybee, 2008).
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A solid education in environmental science and geoscience can help students in their future academic and professional careers. Equally important, it will help them become capable citizens ready to make personal and social decisions based on scientific evidence about future environmental challenges. It is therefore worth asking: What do students know about environmental science and geoscience? What can they do with this knowledge? How competent are they in explaining scientific evidence and using scientific evidence in environmental science and geoscience?
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While knowledge and scientific understanding of the environment and geoscience are essential, if youths cannot make connections between their cognitive skills and real issues, or if they see the future too optimistically or pessimistically to address issues, then they may not be able to fully capitalise on their academic training in these topics.
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With the intensification of public concern over the environment, many nations are engaged in extensive public debates. 15-year-olds in OECD countries have access to large amounts of information on the environment and its scientific study. Not only schools, but the media and Internet as well, have become rich sources of material from which students can learn and apply their scientific literacy.
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