When PISA results are released, my colleagues at internationalednews and I often scan the headlines to see how media around the world are responding. This month OECD released the results of the Collaborative Problem Solving assessments carried out for the first time in 2015. The OECD notes that the assessments attempt to measure the extent to which students can “maintain an awareness of group dynamics, ensure team members act in accordance with their agreed‑upon roles, and resolve disagreements and conflicts while identifying efficient pathways and monitoring progress towards a solution.” Among the highlights in OECD’s summary:
- Across OECD countries, 8% of students are top performers in collaborative problem solving, but, on average, On average, 28% of students are only able to solve straightforward collaborative problems, if any at all.
- Students in Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States perform much better in collaborative problem solving than would be expected based on their scores in science, reading and mathematics, but Beijing-Shanghai -Jiangsu-Guangdong scored much lower than would be expected.
- Girls perform significantly better than boys in collaborative problem solving in every country and economy that participated in the assessment. On average across OECD countries, girls score 29 points higher than boys.
The release of the results garnered considerable attention from a wide range of countries, and, in a departure from the usual gloomy portrayals, many (though not all) headlines were either neutral or put a positive spin on the results.
Alberta students great collaborative problem solvers, international test finds
Edmonton Journal – Nov 28, 2017
Australian students among world’s top performers with this surprising skill
The Sydney Morning Herald – Nov 21, 2017
Brazil among the worst in new OECD study
VEJA.com – Nov 23, 2017
PISA 2015 latest report: Young people playing video games are worse off problem solving in the team
(Estonia) Delfi – Nov 22, 2017
Finnish 15-year-olds among best performers in new PISA tests
Helsinki Times, Nov 28, 2017
Pisa test: how well students solve problems together
(Germany) derStandard.at – Nov 20, 2017
Hong Kong pupils among world’s best group problem-solvers (but Singapore tops the chart)
South China Morning Post – Nov 20, 2017
Korea tops PISA scale in collaborative problem-solving
The Korea Herald – Nov 23, 2017
Survey ranks Japanese children’s problem-solving skills near world’s best
The Mainichi – Nov 21, 2017
Bebés y más – Nov 27, 2017
Scottish school children lag behind English at problem solving
Telegraph.co.uk-Nov 21, 2017
Singapore students top OECD global survey in problem solving through teamwork
The Straits Times – Nov 20, 2017
Pisa: UK does better than expected in collaborative problem-solving
TES News – Nov 20, 2017
US ranks No. 13 in new collaborative problem-solving test
The Hechinger Report – Nov 27, 2017
Thomas Hatch 