Science teaching and curriculum

The Finnish ninth graders who participated in the PISA survey in the spring 2006 have as a rule studied according to the 1994 framework curriculum. The final assessment criteria for basic education, published in 1999, described ‘good competence’ in significantly more detail compared with the 1994 National Core Curriculum both in terms of knowledge and skills.

The new National Core Curriculum for Basic Education was introduced as from 16th January 2004. In terms of natural sciences, the core curriculum work was based on earlier work relating to criteria. The revised National Core Curriculum pays more attention to knowledge structures of different natural sciences, as well as ways of acquiring information and their applications. The aim is to achieve in-depth understanding of knowledge by means of exploratory learning. According to the National Core Curriculum, instruction in natural sciences is characterised by a problem-based approach and experiential working methods. In terms of natural sciences, the objectives, core contents and the description of good competence set out within the curriculum emphasise a diverse learning environment.

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