The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has attracted the attention of many researchers and educational policy makers over the past few years. PISA measures determine the extent to which 15-year-old students have obtained essential knowledge and competencies to achieve success in modern societies and economies as they near the end of their compulsory education. To do so, the PISA items, which students resolve with the use of their knowledge and competencies, are constructed

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... h a variety of personal, social, and global contexts in mind. The PISA 2015 survey does not just measure how well a 15-year-old student has acquired essential knowledge and competencies but also includes items probing students' attitudes toward science, in order to improve our understanding of why students perform well in the knowledge and competency domains. PISA alternates reading, mathematics, and science as the major assessment domains every three years. The main assessment domains in PISA 2012 and PISA 2015 were mathematical literacy and scientific literacy, respectively. Additionally, for both the 2012 and 2015 surveys, PISA placed a focus on the measurement of opportunity to learn. The science test items used have also continuously evolved in the light of the rapidly changing world in order to reflect the latest advances in science and technology. Other revisions to the PISA assessment reflect innovations in existing theories and models of science and mathematics education. The return of mathematics Int J of Sci and Math Educ (2018) 16 (Suppl 1):S1-S5