Scientific Competence in Developing Countries: Determinants and Relationship to the Environment

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Agenda 2030 to guarantee sustainable, peaceful, prosperous, and just life, establishing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to this declaration, pursuing the path of sustainable development requires a profound transformation in how we think and act. People must have scientific competences—not only knowledge of science, but also skills, values, and attitudes toward science that enable them to contribute to the goals proposed. This overall approach, known as Education for Sustainable Development (EDS), is crucial to achieving the SDGs. Scientific competences not only depend on what students learn in their countries’ formal education systems but also on other factors in the environment in which the students live. This study aims to identify the factors that determine scientific competence in students in developing countries, paying special attention to the social and cultural capital and the environmental conditions in the environment in which they live. To achieve this goal, we used data provided by PISA-D in the participating countries—Cambodia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, and Senegal—and multilevel linear modelling. The results enable us to conclude that achieving scientific competence also depends on the social and cultural capital of the student’s family and on the cultural and social capital of the schools. The higher the score in these forms of capital, the greater the achievement in sciences.