ABSTRACT
The science education practices of any country can be thought of as a series of natural experiments. In contrast, East Germany mandates a uniform and demanding science curriculum for all students through a 10-year general polytechnical program, and gives special support to interested and talented science students through extracurricular classes and academic Olympiaden. A repeated theme in the descriptions of Communist countries is the harmony between science and the dialectical materialism of Marx, Lenin, Engels, and Mao Zedong. Thus, an education in science is considered an enlightenment that cannot be at odds with Communist theory. In a spiral curriculum, each science is taught over a period of several years, beginning with concrete experiences to build an intuitive understanding of a subject. Ethnic, geographic, and sex differences apparently have a negligible impact on the performance of Japanese children in science at elementary through high school levels, making at least that part of that school system seem exceptionally egalitarian.
