Uploaded February 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Presented by Bruce A. Fuchs, Ph.D.
Director of the NIH Office of Science Education
In December of last year the results of the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were released and, once again, U.S. students performed poorly in science and math compared to students from many other countries. We are going to look at some of the international student data and talk about what we can, and cannot, conclude from these types of studies. Some of the common questions addressed will be ...
* Are these results "real"?
* Aren't we comparing "all" our kids to a tiny elite in the nations that outperform us?
* There can't be anything to really worry about, right?
* After all, if we are so dumb then why are we so rich? Oops!
Dr. Fuchs is responsible for monitoring a range of science education policy issues and providing advice to NIH leadership. He also directs the creation of a series of K-12 science education curriculum supplements that highlight the medical research findings of the NIH. The NIH Curriculum Supplement Series is designed to meet teacher's educational goals as outlined in the National Science Education Standards and is available free to teachers across the nation. Teachers have requested the seventeen titles currently in the series more than 380,000 times. The office also actively creates innovative science and career education Web resources, such as the LifeWorks career exploration site, accessible to teachers and students across the nation. These resources are available at science.education.nih.gov
Presented by Bruce A. Fuchs, Ph.D.
Director of the NIH Office of Science Education
In December of last year the results of the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were released and, once again, U.S. students performed poorly in science and math compared to students from many other countries. We are going to look at some of the international student data and talk about what we can, and cannot, conclude from these types of studies. Some of the common questions addressed will be ...
* Are these results "real"?
* Aren't we comparing "all" our kids to a tiny elite in the nations that outperform us?
* There can't be anything to really worry about, right?
* After all, if we are so dumb then why are we so rich? Oops!
Dr. Fuchs is responsible for monitoring a range of science education policy issues and providing advice to NIH leadership. He also directs the creation of a series of K-12 science education curriculum supplements that highlight the medical research findings of the NIH. The NIH Curriculum Supplement Series is designed to meet teacher's educational goals as outlined in the National Science Education Standards and is available free to teachers across the nation. Teachers have requested the seventeen titles currently in the series more than 380,000 times. The office also actively creates innovative science and career education Web resources, such as the LifeWorks career exploration site, accessible to teachers and students across the nation. These resources are available at science.education.nih.gov
