Fourth-grade students were relatively evenly distributed internationally across the three scale categories (Exhibit 6.3.5). On average, about one-third of fourth-grade students were “very confident” in science (34%), about one-third were “somewhat confident” in science (35%), and about one-third were “not confident” in science (31%). There was a strong positive relationship internationally between feeling confident in science and average achievement in the subject area for fourth-grade students—a difference in average scale score of 67 points between students who are “very confident” and those who are “not confident” (530 vs. 463).

Across the science subjects, less than one-fifth of eighth-grade students on average were “very confident” in science, both for integrated science and the separate subjects, with percentages in this category ranging from 12 percent in physics to 17 percent in integrated science, biology and earth science (Exhibit 6.3.6a – 6.3.6e). Physics and chemistry had the most students, on average, who reported being “not confident” in the subjects (53% and 50%, respectively), although more than 30% of eighth-grade students fell into this category for all science subjects. The difference in average achievement between “very confident” and “not confident” students was largest in integrated science, where students who were “very confident” had an average achievement of 545 and students who were “not confident” had an average achievement of 455 (a difference of 90 points). Although still substantial, average achievement differences between students who were “very confident” and “not confident” were smaller for the separate science subjects, ranging from 64 points in earth science (495 vs. 431) to 83 points in physics (525 vs. 442).