Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 6, Issue 2, Foreword (Dec., 2005)
Svein SJØBERG & Camilla SCHREINER
How do learners in different cultures relate to science and technology?
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A job in S&T?

We see from Figure 4 that there are large cross-national differences when it comes to students' agreement with the statement I would like to become a scientist. The mean scores in the developed countries are extremely low, and the girls are even more negative than the boys. Japan has particularly large gender differences.


Figure 4. I would like to become a scientist. See caption 1 for diagram explanations.

Responses to the item I would like to get a job in technology are illustrated in Figure 5. Also in this diagram, we note pronounced differences between countries and between girls and boys in each country. While boys in more developed countries give average scores close to the neutral value, most girls in these countries do not want to work with technology. In developing countries, both girls and boys agree with the statement. Also in these countries, there are some gender differences, but they are by no means as large as in the developed countries.


Figure 5. I would like to get a job in technology. See caption 1 for diagram explanations.


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