PISA in Focus 18

an OECD publication (July 2012)

Are students more engaged when schools offer extracurricular activities?

• Around 90% of students in OECD countries attend schools that offer field trips to places where students can learn about scientific principles and concepts.
• In most countries, science-related extracurricular activities at school are related to better student performance, a stronger belief by students in their abilities to handle science-related tasks, and greater enjoyment of learning science. And, in many countries, this is true even after accounting for the socio-economic background of both students and schools.

The bottom line: PISA cannot determine whether being exposed to science-related extracurricular activities enhances students’ attitudes towards science or whether students with more positive attitudes towards science are attracted to schools that offer more of such activities; both could be true. But what PISA does show is that these kinds of activities have a positive relationship not only to student performance, but also to students’ attitudes towards learning and their belief in their own abilities.

Full text (PDF 4pp)

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