1. PISA Test
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide test in math, science and reading that compares educational system of countries.
It also includes a background survey to ask about their learning habits, motivation, family style, etc.
Test is administered every 3 years to students 15 years old. A sample is selected from each of the 65 countries.
In 2012, 500,000 students took the test. The 2015 test results were published in the fall of 2016.

2. 2012 PISA Reading 10. Poland 11. Estonia 12. Liechtenstein
13. New Zealand
14. Australia
15. Netherlands
16. Belgium
17. Switzerland
18. Macao (China)
19. Vietnam
20. Germany
21. France
22. Norway
23. United Kingdom
24. United States
25. Denmark
1. Shanghai (China)
2. Hong Kong (China)
3. Singapore
4. Japan
5. South Korea
6. Finland
7. Ireland
8. Taiwan
9. Canada
10. Poland

3. 2012 PISA Math 16. Germany 17. Vietnam 18. Austria 19. Australia
20. Ireland
21. Slovenia
22. Denmark
23. New Zealand
24. Czech Republic
25. France
26. United Kingdom
27. Iceland
28 Latvia
29. Luxembourg
30. Norway
31. Portugal
32. Italy
33. Spain
34. Russian Federation
35. Slovak Republic
36. United States
1. Shanghai (China)
2. Singapore
3. Hong Kong (China)
4. Taiwan
5. South Korea
6. Macao (China)
7. Japan
8. Liechtenstein
9. Switzerland
10. Netherlands
11. Estonia
12. Finland
13. Canada
14. Poland
15. Belgium

4. Sample PISA Math Question
A result of global warming is that the ice of some glaciers is melting. Twelve years after the ice disappears, tiny plants, called lichen, start to grow on the rocks. Each lichen grows approximately in the shape of a circle. The relationship between the diameter of this circle and the age of the lichen can be approximated with the formula: where d represents the diameter of the lichen in millimeters, and t represents the number of years after the ice has disappeared. Using the formula, calculate the diameter of the lichen, 16 years after the ice disappeared. Show your calculation.

5. Calculation
7.0 x t -12
7.0 x 16−12
7.0 x 4
7.0 x 2 = 14 millimeters

6. Why does the United States lag behind?

7. What if you went to school in Japan?

8. School Calendar and Curriculum

9. Teachers and Instruction

10. Parental Involvement

11. School Uniforms

12. Kumi (Homeroom)

13. Clubs

14. Preparation for Entrance Exams

15. Entrance Exams

16. Why does the United States lag behind? According to the NYTimes.
1. Teacher Training: Other countries have a more rigorous and selective teacher training, pay teachers more and the prestige is higher.
2. Inequality in Funding: Other countries are better at funding equality. U.S. bases most of school funding on property taxes. (Eanes ISD vs. Austin ISD vs. Del Valle ISD )
3. School Equality: “Good schools” and “bad schools” don’t exist in some countries.

17. Other ideas 1. What if a country is not standardized?
2. U.S. kids are over-tested. Finland only has one test.
3. U.S. has a history of marginalization of groups that have limited their educational opportunities. This has an effect on several generations.
4. U.S. is more individualistic (“I want a great education for my kid” is the focus. Other countries have a more “I want a great education for the kids of my country”)

18. Japanese Education - Ken
This short PBS video follows a boy named Ken from his time in 1st grade all the way until he is an adult

19. Japanese Cars and Electronics

20. How many Japanese auto makers can you name?
Toyota 
Honda 
Daihatsu
Nissan
 Suzuki 
Mazda 
Mitsubishi 
Subaru
Isuzu
Kawasaki
Yamaha
Mitsuoka

21. In 1904, Torao Yamaha produced the first domestically manufactured bus, which was powered by a steam engine.
In 1907, Komanosuke Uchiyama produced the Takuri, the first entirely Japanese-made gasoline engine car.
Most early Japanese cars copied European and American models.

22. The Toyota Corolla is the best selling car in the world.
Toyota, a textile manufacturer, began building cars in Today, Toyota is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer.
The Toyota Corolla is the best selling car in the world.

23. Honda began as an engine company in the late 1940’s.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959.
Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume.
Honda is the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer.

24. Many Japanese automakers expanded during World War II as foreign imports were cut off.

25. Oil was cheap and these cars were cool. They sold like hotcakes.
Following WW 2, America became the largest automobile manufacture producing big cars.
Oil was cheap and these cars were cool. They sold like hotcakes.
The 1950’s American economy boomed and Americans felt rich. They all wanted a car.

26. In the 1950’s, Japan started producing small and affordable cars and focused on gas efficiency. The kei car (light cars) became popular in Japan.

27. Subaru 360: “The Ladybug:” began production in 1958

28. In 1973, the Arab countries refused to sell oil to western countries for a brief time. Oil became expensive and American oil fields were going dry.
Global consumers looked for smaller, cheaper and more energy efficient cars.
Japan began exporting cars to the world market.
1965: export 100,000 cars from Japan
1975: export 1.8 million cars
1980: Japan overtakes the US as the largest car manufacture in the world
China overtook Japan in 2000

29. Today, Japanese car companies are leaders in developing hybrid cars
Today, Japanese car companies are leaders in developing hybrid cars. The Toyota Prius (1997 in Japan, worldwide in 2000) was the first mass produced hybrid car and one of the cleanest cars on the road today.

30. Japanese Electronics

31. How many Japanese electronics companies can you name?
Sony
Canon
Casio
 Citizen
 Fujifilm
 Fujitsu
 Hitachi 
JVC Kenwood 
Mitsubishi Electric
NEC
Nintendo 
Panasonic 
Pioneer 
Ricoh
Seiko Group 
Sharp Corporation 
TDK 
Toshiba
Olympus 

32. Major electronics innovations from Japan
The Walkman (Sony)
The first mass-produced laptops (Toshiba)
The VHS recorder (JVC)
Solar cells
LCD screens (Sharp)

33. In 1946, Sony was founded.
They invented the transistor radio – the first radio, or music listening device that could be taken anywhere.
The transistor radio has been the most popular electronic communications device ever created.

34. In 1889, Nintendo began as a playing cards company.
In the 1970’s, Nintendo entered the video game industry.
Today, Nintendo is the largest video game company by revenue.

35. In 1977, Nintendo hired a young artist named Shigeru Miyamoto
Miyamoto would go on to design Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pikman and the Wii series including Wii Sports.
The Mario series is the best selling video game of all time. Wii Sports is number 2.
Miyamoto has a net worth of $40 million.

36. Canon and Nikon created many of the major advances in camera and digital photography in the second half of the 20th century

37. Japanese electronic dominated the world market from about 1955 to 2010 but have since been on a decline.

38. The Japanese electronics future is likely in robotics

39. Erica
“What may set Erica apart from other artificial intelligence, however, is her charisma…Erica is capable of holding a conversation with humans, thanks to a combination of speech-generation algorithms, facial-recognition technology and infrared sensors that allow her to track faces across a room…While she cannot move her arms yet, Erica can move her facial features, neck, shoulders and waist independently…allowing her to respond to human speech with uncanny autonomy.” – LiveScience