KEY POINTS:
A top primary science educator believes the subject is in crisis - with new international findings suggesting primary pupils' science abilities fell for the first time in more than a decade.
Ian Milne, of New Zealand Association of Science Educators, said science had been squeezed out of primary
classrooms.
"Children doing things, practical hands-on stuff, that's missing in the schools," said the University of Auckland education senior lecturer.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study - produced every four years by the United States Department of Education - put New Zealand in 22nd place out of the study's 36 participating countries, in science for Year 5 pupils. New Zealand was behind Singapore, England, the United States and Australia and ahead of 13 other countries.
The report said previous data showed the Year 5 pupils' mean science results had improved since 1994, but the latest data, gathered in 2006, showed a slump back to the 1994 level. It was the second report released in past months pointing to a decline in primary school science.
In October, the National Education Monitoring Project science paper suggested a gradual decline in ability for Year 4s in the subject and a rise in the number of Year 8s disliking science at school.
Both studies cited a squeeze on class time as one of the factors in the science slip.
Mr Milne said a joint conference with the Royal Society next week would call principals and the Ministry of Education to action.
Ministry spokeswoman Mary Chamberlain said the science findings were of concern, and advice and support for primary school science teachers was being developed.
She said PISA - a different international survey, put out by the OECD, examining high school students' ability - found New Zealand's top students performed among the best in the world in science.
Frances Nelson, head of teacher union the New Zealand Educational Institute, said the primary school curriculum was outcomes-based, meaning that the focus was on teaching skills rather than specific content.
She said the high school students results showed students could apply skills learned in primary school to specialist subjects in senior years.
"By the time that students get out of secondary school, New Zealand is right back up there."
In mathematics, New Zealand ranked 12th of the 36 countries in the international trends report.
The report said there was significant overall improvement in New Zealand's mean maths achievement since the first report of its type in 1994.
It said both girls and boys had improved in the subject.
