NEW RESEARCH into Irish 15-year-old students has found that girls at that age appear to be better than boys at broad scientific understanding but boys are better at "knowledge of scientific facts".
Dr Emer Eivers, co-author of the research - which is contained in the OECD's 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment - said there were no gender differences in overall science performance in Ireland.
"But there are large differences in some aspects of science. Females seem to be better at broad scientific understanding - what is the nature of science - while males seem better on knowledge of scientific facts, particularly knowledge of physics," she told a conference on the study in Croke Park yesterday.
The new report, which provides in-depth Irish analysis of the 2006 study, also included a survey which found that 43 per cent of Irish 15-year-olds had been the victims of bullying, with 14 per cent experiencing three or more different forms.
The survey of some 4,500 Irish students suggests that bullying is influenced by gender, with the negative impact of bullying on girls' performance in science, maths and reading tests becoming evident sooner than was the case for their male counterparts.
For example, when female students who had not been bullied were compared to those who had experienced two or more types of bullying, it notes significant differences in performance.
However, differences in achievement among males only become significant when those who had not been bullied were compared to those who experienced four or more types of bullying.
Bullying also occurred in all types of schools regardless of whether they were fee-paying, disadvantaged, single-sex or mixed.
Another co-author of the report, Rachel Cunningham, stressed that the study did not chart how persistent the bullying was. Students were also not asked if they had been bullied, but rather were presented with a list of six types of bullying and requested to indicate if they had personally experienced any or all of these.
The types of bullying included name-calling, having rumours spread about them, having been threatened and having been physically hurt.
The study is an OECD project which is designed to assess the scientific, mathematical and reading literacy skills of 15-year-olds in 57 countries. The 2006 report focused on science.
It found that Irish 15-year-olds continue to perform well above the OECD average when it comes reading. Irish students also had above average performance in science, ranking 14th out of the 30 OECD countries. However they were at about the OECD average when it comes to maths, at 16th place.
Elsewhere, a student's socioeconomic, social and cultural status was linked to achievement in science, reading and mathematics, the study found.
Almost two-thirds of students said they engaged in some paid work during school term. Those who engaged in paid work spent an average of six hours and 24 minutes per week doing this.