THE LATVIAN 12TH GRADE STUDENTS` UNDERSTANDING OF PARTICULAR ISSUES OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Students after graduating school must have both, knowledge and basic skills for active life-action, which includes their ability to evaluate their knowledge and skills for usability both in everyday life and in future. In this article knowledge of different problems within science education and its usability for future life, evaluated by the Latvian 12th grade students, has been analysed by using a poll, which has been previously approved in Nordic countries. Results show that Latvian students' knowledge about different problems of human biology is relatively higher than in other fields of science. On the other hand students demonstrate a lack of skills for generalization, therefore knowledge is sometimes insufficient. Only slightly more than half of students recognized their knowledge in science, obtained at school, as suitable for their future life.