Learning from TIMSS: Results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Summary of a Symposium (1997) / Chapter Skim
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What is TIMSS?
What is TIMSS?
Pages 3-14
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From page 3... ...
Although the structure and composition of IEA's studies have evolved some since the 1960s, their purpose to describe and explain differences in student achievement has remained the same. More specifically, the organizers of the study described the purpose of TIMSS in this way: "to learn more about mathematics and science curricula and teaching practices associated with high levels of student achievement, in order to improve the teaching and the learning of mathematics around the world" (Robitaille and Garden, 1996:15)
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. All of the other components of TIMSS were designed to provide data that can help explain variations in performance on the achievement test: these included a detailed look at the content of mathematics and science curricula and text books around the world, as well as investigations of student attitudes and experiences, teaching practices and school resources, and many other factors that affect achievement (these other components of the study are described below)
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From page 5... ...
The openended exercises are scored using guidelines that describe several categories of responses and assign scores to them. In each country the test was administered to a sample of classes of students approximately 3,750 students per country at each grade level (Third International Mathematics and Science Study, 1996~.
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From page 6... ...
By presenting the results this way, researchers hoped to discourage observers from focusing on slight differences that might be inappropriately magnified if numerical scores were simply listed in rank order. More than 20 countries also chose to include a set of performance assessment tasks for Populations 1 and 2; these were simple experiments using standardized materials provided in kits.
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Gender differences in mathematics achievement were small or nonexistent; differences that did exist favored boys. There is a large difference in average science and mathemat~cs achievement between the top-performing and bottom-performing .
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The solution to this problem was a procedure called topic trace mapping, by which researchers in each country collected information about topic coverage in various documents and translated it into a common format. Using formally defined "document analysis procedures" as guides, the national researchers took the most widely used textbooks in their respective countries, as well as national and regional curriculum guides, and analyzed the documents section by section to determine the extent to which material included in the TIMSS frameworks was covered.
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From page 9... ...
William Schmidt, who directed the curriculum study, described some of the team's findings and conclusions, focusing primarily on the issues addressed in A Splintered Vision, the curriculum analysis results for the United States (Schmidt, McKnight, and Raizen, 1997~.4 For him, the study's most valuable product is what he sees as resolution of the debate over whether school curricula truly make a difference in student learning. For him it is clear that teaching matters, and he argues that the "somewhat disappointing" achievement results for the United States reflect the weaknesses in the U.S.
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James Stigler and Harold Stevenson, the principal researchers for the videotape study and the case studies, respectively, each described their methods and some key findings. Videotape Study The primary goal of the videotape study was to capture and then analyze entire mathematics lessons taught to a subsample of the Population 2 (grades seven and eight)
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From page 11... ...
Stigler argued that the relatively large-scale videotape study has made it possible for the first time to look at what teachers are actually doing in the classroom and to compare that with their verbal descriptions of what they believe they are doing. Citing the notion of problem solving, for example, a traditional mathematics skill that is carefully redefined in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
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From page 12... ...
He noted that the questionnaires administered to the teachers who participated in the videotape study (these were different from the questionnaires administered with the achievement tests) revealed very different expectations for the outcome of a lesson: 70 percent of Japanese teachers reported that their goal was to get the students to understand a concept; similar percentages of U.S.
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The U.S. teachers pay far more attention to homework than clo their Japanese counterparts, allotting significant chunks of class time for going over previous homework or allowing students to begin new assignments.
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One important focus of his presentation was on ways in which detailed knowledge of cultural contexts can significantly alter discussions about a particular issue. His choice of an example homework was inspired by his concerns about the ways in which symposium participants had discussed the relationship between homework and achievement results.
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