Singapore’s 15-year-olds don’t just excel in mathematics, science
and reading, they are also world beaters when it comes to solving
complex and unfamiliar problems, a global study shows.
They and South Korean teens emerged No 1, beating students from 42
other countries and economies who took part in a problem solving
test, a subset of the Programme for International Student
Assessment (Pisa) study conducted two years ago which tested
students skills in mathematics, science and reading.
For the online test on problem-solving, the 1,394 students here
from across the streams in the 166 government secondary schools and
six private schools including Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah and
Canadian International were required to tackle between four and
eight problems with each problem containing several
sub-questions.
For example, one question asked students to observe the simulated
behaviour of a robot cleaner online and figure out the rules by
which the robot cleaner operates.
ST
