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Suggested Citation:"Conclusion." National Research Council. 1996. Mathematics and Science Education Around the World: What Can We Learn From The Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5508.
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market in the last two or three years. It also will be important to consider other studies of the contemporary instructional reform in science and mathematics education24 in order to determine whether what was occurring in the years of TIMSS-data gathering is consistent with the trends of standards-based reform. For example, studies conducted in the early 1990s suggest that the mathematics standards were only beginning to influence classrooms in a significant way.25

Conclusion

The release of the report on SMSO, to be followed closely by the release of several components of TIMSS, offer an important opportunity to learn more about international variations in curriculum and instructional practice in mathematics and science. Many attempts will probably be made to draw rapid conclusions from TIMSS regarding what should be done to "fix" American mathematics and science education. Issues that emerge from SMSO can guide the continuing analysis of TIMSS data, both by helping to shape the major questions asked of the data and by ensuring that the analysis will examine the complexity, variety, and subtlety of differences in educational goals, materials, and practice around the world. Although it will be difficult to avoid the comparison of achievement independent of context and culture, it is essential that we ask good questions and develop adequate explanations for variations within and between educational systems and that we study their connections to what students seem to learn.

The TIMSS data themselves will not "speak." To learn the kinds of things made possible by the availability of the TIMSS data will require raising critical questions and employing sophisticated methods for pursuing the answers. The secondary analyses possible from these data are significant; we now need discussions about the crucial issues to investigate and ways to do so. TIMSS data will provide a rare opportunity in discourse about mathematics and science education, its analysis, and improvement. We urge a stance of enlightened inquiry in that discourse.

24  

Ferrini-Mundy, J. & Schram, T. (Eds.) (in press). The Recognizing and Recording Reform in Mathematics Education project: Insights, issues, and implications. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (Monograph No. 8). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Prawat, R.S., Remillard J., Putnam, R. T., & Heaton, R.M. (1992). Teaching mathematics for understanding: Case studies of four fifth-grade teachers. Elementary School Journal, (93).

25  

Weiss, I. R., Matti, N. C., & Smith P. S. (1994). Report of the 1993 national survey of science and mathematics education. Chapel Hill, NC: Horizon Research, Inc.

Suggested Citation:"Conclusion." National Research Council. 1996. Mathematics and Science Education Around the World: What Can We Learn From The Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5508.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"Conclusion." National Research Council. 1996. Mathematics and Science Education Around the World: What Can We Learn From The Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5508.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"Conclusion." National Research Council. 1996. Mathematics and Science Education Around the World: What Can We Learn From The Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5508.
×
Page 18
Next: Appendix 1: Participating TIMSS Countries »
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Amid current efforts to improve mathematics and science education in the United States, people often ask how these subjects are organized and taught in other countries. They hear repeatedly that other countries produce higher student achievement. Teachers and parents wonder about the answers to questions like these: Why do the children in Asian cultures seem to be so good at science and mathematics? How are biology and physics taught in the French curriculum? What are textbooks like elsewhere, and how much latitude do teachers have in the way they follow the texts? Do all students receive the same education, or are they grouped by ability or perceived educational promise? If students are grouped, how early is this done? What are tests like, and what are the consequences for students? Are other countries engaged in Standards-like reforms? Does anything like "standards" play a role in other countries? Questions such as these reflect more than a casual interest in other countries' educational practices. They grow out of an interest in identifying ways to improve mathematics and science education in the United States.

The focus of this short report is on what the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a major international investigation of curriculum, instruction, and learning in mathematics and science, will be able to contribute to understandings of mathematics and science education around the world as well as to current efforts to improve student learning, particularly in the United States.

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