Finland, A Package Deal: Disciplinary Climate in Science Classes, Science Dispositions and Science Literacy

Abstract

Finland’s educational prowess, though tempered by recent international assessments, has remained intact. This report focused on lessons that could be learned regarding secondary-level science education from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, science-focused assessment. That PISA iteration included not only science literacy but also students’ science dispositions (epistemology, enjoyment, interest, and self-efficacy) and the schools’ science climate measures (disciplinary climate and teaching support). Due to the hierarchical nature of the PISA data, multilevel models were employed in this Finnish study, involving 5582 students from 167 schools. Science dispositions (as outcome measures) were differently associated with teaching support and disciplinary climate (epistemology with neither; enjoyment and interest, with both). Science literacy (as an outcome measure) was associated with all four science dispositions, whether modeled with each science disposition separately or all four simultaneously. Science literacy was also associated with the disciplinary climate in science classes for all tested models. We concluded that, in the Finnish context, science dispositions and the disciplinary climate were predictive of science literacy. Furthermore, we presented evidence from the literature indicating that these conclusions may well extend to other international contexts.