International comparisons of school-level geoscience education– the UNESCO/IGEO expert opinion survey

Figures & data

Table 1. Numbers of questions focussing on different science levels in schools.

Question focus	Primary (elementary school) science	Lower secondary (junior high school) science	Upper secondary (high school) science	Totals
General science	7	7	11	25
General science assessment	4	4	4	12
Science teachers	4	3	3	10
Open question	1	1	1	3
Earth science	9	12	17	38
Totals	25	27	36	88

Figure 1. The distribution of countries with experts who took part in the survey. Latin American countries in pale grey. Annotated Google My Maps image.

Table 2. The 51 countries from which experts contributed to the UNESCO/IGEO international survey.

Argentina	Egypt	Japan	Portugal
Australia	El Salvador	Kyrgyzstan	Russia
Bolivia	Finland	Malawi	South Africa
Brazil	France	Mauritius	South Korea
Bulgaria	Germany	Mexico	Spain
Canada	Greece	Mongolia	Sri Lanka
Chile	Guatemala	Namibia	Turkey
China	Guyana	New Zealand	United Kingdom
Colombia	India	Nicaragua	United States
Costa Rica	Indonesia	Norway	Uruguay
Cuba	Iran	Pakistan	Venezuela
Denmark	Israel	Peru	Zambia
Ecuador	Italy	Philippines

Note: The 16 Latin American countries are shaded pale grey.

Table 3. Source of expertise of those completing the questionnaire (Global weighted %, n = 51; Non-Latin American %, n = 35; Latin American %, n = 16) (global weighted % = (non-LA % x 35/51) + (LA% x 16/51)).

Background	Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Holding PhD	74	80	62
Non-PhD holder with Masters degrees	21	17	31
From university	61	60	62
From research centre	16	17	13
From national ministry of education	10	9	13
From national agency for education	4	0	13
From school	6	9	0
From other organisations	3	5	0
Male	51	51	50
Female	49	49	50
IGEO Council members	55	77	6
International Union of Geological Sciences Commission on Geoscience Education (IUGS-COGE) Commissioners	14	20	0

Table 4. Earth science in the primary (elementary) science curriculum (global weighted % calculated).

Primary (elementary) science curriculum		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Does your country have a curriculum for primary education that covers Natural Sciences? (Global n = 51; Non-LA n = 35; LA n = 16)	National curriculum	62	54	81
	National standards	16	17	13
	Sub-national curricula or standards	9	11	6
	None	12	17	0
	Total	99	99	100
Do Earth sciences form part of the curriculum? (or standards) (Global n = 40; LA n = 15; Non-LA n = 25)		83	80	87
In your opinion, how closely is the Earth sciences content of the curriculum followed in most schools? (Global n = 40; Non-LA n = 25; LA n = 15)	Very closely	8	13	0
	Quite closely	50	42	62
	Not very closely	39	40	38
	Largely ignored	3	5	0
	Total	100	100	100

Table 5. Earth science in the lower secondary (junior high) school science curriculum (global weighted % calculated).

Lower secondary (junior high) school science curriculum		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Does your country have a curriculum for lower secondary education that covers Natural sciences? (Global n = 51; Non-LA; n = 35LA n = 16)	National curriculum	69	60	88
	National standards	18	20	13
	Sub-national curricula or standards	6	9	0
	None	8	11	0
	Total	101	100	101
Do Earth sciences form part of the curriculum? (or standards) (Global n = 47; LA n = 16; Non-LA n = 31)		81	75	93
In your opinion, how closely is the Earth sciences content of the curriculum followed in most schools? (Global n = 47; Non-LA n = 31; LA n = 15)	Very closely	19	19	20
	Quite closely	43	48	33
	Not very closely	32	24	47
	Largely ignored	7	10	0
	Total	101	101	100

Table 6. Learning methods used in lower school Earth science teaching (Global weighted %, n = 36; Non-Latin American %, n = 21; Latin American %, n = 15).

Region	Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Fieldwork	44	33	60
Experimenting	53	57	47
Modelling	36	33	40
Problem-based learning	48	48	47

Table 7. Earth science in the upper secondary (high) school science curriculum (global weighted % calculated).

Upper secondary (high) school science curriculum		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Does your country have a curriculum for upper secondary education that covers Natural sciences? (Global n = 51; LA n = 16; Non-LA n = 35)	National curriculum	74	71	81
	National standards	16	14	19
	Sub-national curricula or standards	6	9	0
	None	4	6	0
	Total	100	100	100
Do Earth sciences form part of the curriculum? (or standards) (Global n = 49; Non-LA; n = 33 LA n = 16)		78	68	100
In your opinion, how closely is the Earth sciences content of the curriculum followed in most schools? (Global n = 49; Non-LA n = 33; LA n = 16)	Very closely	14	13	17
	Quite closely	33	33	33
	Not very closely	39	38	42
	Largely ignored	14	17	8
	Total	199	101	100

Table 8. Curriculum comparisons across pupil ages; data from tables 4–6 (n = 51).

School science curriculum	Primary (elementary) %	Lower secondary (junior high) %	Upper secondary (high) %	Global mean %
National science curriculum or standards	87	93	96	92
No national science curriculum or standards	12	8	4	8
Earth science forms part of the curriculum	75	81	75	75
Earth science does not form part of the curriculum	25	19	25	23
Earth science is in the curriculum and is (very or quite) closely followed	45	57	35	46

Table 9. Earth science curriculum areas covered at each school level comprising more than 30% of the curriculum (global weighted % calculated).

Primary (elementary)	Lower secondary (junior high)	Upper secondary (high)
Water on Earth – 94%	Earth sciences – 72%	Natural science – 53%
Solar system – 91%	Geology – 61%	Earth science – 50%
Weather – 88%	Natural resources – 58%	Environmental sciences – 50%
Landscape – 88%	Environmental sciences – 53%	Climate studies – 47%
Day/night and Earth's rotation – 85%	Atmospheric sciences – 53%	Geography (physical) – 47%
Climate change – 69%	Geography (physical) – 50%	Atmospheric science – 45%
Fossils – 61%	Geography (nature) – 47%	Geology – 41%
Environmental risks – 58%	Seismology – 45%	Hydrology – 36%
Soil erosion – 55%	Volcanology – 45%	Geography (nature) – 33%
Geological resources and heritage – 49%	Disaster risks – 44%	Volcanology – 31%
All available options in the questionnaire were indicated at more than 30%	Hydrology – 38%	Soil science – 31%
	Meteorology – 33%	19 of the options available in the questionnaire were indicated at less than 30%
	12 of the options available in the questionnaire were indicated at less than 30%

Table 10. Countries with standardised assessment and those that include specific Earth science questions.

Assessment	Primary (elementary) %			Lower secondary (junior high) %			Upper secondary (high) %			Global mean – all levels
Region	Global (n = 40)	Non-LA (n = 25)	LA (n = 15)	Global (n = 44)	Non-LA (n = 28)	LA (n = 16)	Global (n = 46)	Non-LA (n = 30)	LA (n = 16)
% countries with standard assessments	68	60	93	75	64	94	72	67	81	72
Region	Global (n = 30)	Non-LA (n = 16)	LA (n = 14)	Global (n = 33)	Non-LA (n = 18)	LA (n = 15)	Global (n = 46)	Non-LA (n = 30)	LA (n = 16)
% of countries with standard assessments which contain specific Earth Science questions	23	31	14	21	28	13	31	30	38	25

Table 11. The quality and provision of Earth science-teaching material available (N/A = not applicable) (Global = globally weighted (n = 51); Non-LA = non-Latin American (n = 35); LA = Latin American (n = 16)).

Earth science teaching material		Primary (elementary) %			Lower secondary (junior high) %			Upper secondary (high) %			Global mean – all levels
Region		Global	Non-LA	LA	Global	Non-LA	LA	Global	Non-LA	LA
% countries where ES teaching material is available		74	74	75	82	84	81	80	80	81	79
Quality of ES teaching material	high	8	9	6	11	11	12	16	17	13	12
	moderate	65	63	69	59	60	56	63	63	66	62
	poor	10	14	0	14	17	6	10	9	13	11
	N/A	17	14	25	15	11	25	12	11	13	15

Table 12. Training and resourcing for teachers of Earth sciences (Global = globally weighted (n = 51); Non-LA = non-Latin American (n = 35); LA = Latin American (n = 16)).

Training and resources available to ES teachers	Primary (elementary) %			Lower secondary (junior high) %			Upper secondary (high) %			Global mean – all levels
Region	Global	Non-LA	LA	Global	Non-LA	LA	Global	Non-LA	LA
Courses in geosciences areas	33	40	19	43	46	38	43	46	38	40
Professional development programmes on geoscience teaching	27	37	6	34	41	19	34	43	13	32
Lesson plans and other teaching resources	53	46	69	59	60	56	55	51	62	56
Financial resources to develop geosciences materials and/or acquire supplies for instruction	18	25	0	18	26	0	14	20	0	17
None	27	11	63	14	9	25	16	9	31	19

Table 13. Levels of careers advice offered. (Global = globally weighted (n = 34); Non-LA = non-Latin American (n = 24); LA = Latin American (n = 10)).

Region		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Extent of Earth sciences-related careers advice included in instruction	A lot	3	0	8
	Some	22	25	17
	Very little	50	50	50
	None	25	25	25

Table 14. Regular nationwide events promoting Earth science (Global = globally weighted (n = 51); Non-LA = non-Latin American (n = 35); LA = Latin American (n = 16)).

Region		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
Nationwide events for the promotion of Earth sciences are held regularly		49	48	50
Events are:	open to general public, although pupils and students are the main target	39	40	38
	focused solely on the school population	21	25	13
	focussed mainly at secondary level	14	20	0

Table 15. Impact of the Earth science education community.

Region	Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
The country participates in Earth science olympiads (Global n = 51; Non-LA n = 35; LA n = 16)	49	60	25
Innovations in teaching Earth sciences have taken place at school level in the past 10 years (Global n = 50; Non-LA n = 35; LA n = 15)	58	66	40
Earth science educators have influenced social change (Global n = 47; Non-LA n = 32; LA n = 15)	66	63	73
Research groups focussed on Earth science teaching are present (Global n = 50; Non-LA n = 35; LA n = 15)	58	54	67

Table 16. Provision of extra-curricular activities.

Region		Global – weighted %	Non-Latin American %	Latin American %
National guidelines or recommendations encourage schools to provide extra-curricular activities (Global = globally weighted (n = 51); Non-LA = non-Latin American (n = 35); LA = Latin American (n = 16)).		61	63	56
Organisations providing extra-curricular activities (Global n = 22; Non-LA n = 13; LA n = 9)	museums and interactive science centres	87	85	89
	national parks or parks with an Earth science focus	64	70	56
	UNESCO geoparks and site protection networks	41	62	11
	public understanding organisations focussed on Earth science	50	62	33
	local ‘rockhound’ groups	46	23	78
	groups aimed at children	55	70	33
	Earth science content in Public Understanding of Science events	55	62	44
	private sector organisations	32	46	11