• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.463-478
• /
• 2014

우리나라 중학교 2학년 학생들은 TIMSS와 같은 국제적인 평가에서 높은 수학 성취도를 보이고 있다. 성별 성취도를 분석하면 TIMSS 1995부터 TIMSS 2011까지 남학생이 여학생보다 지속적으로 높은 평균점수를 받고 있다. TIMSS 1995와 TIMSS 2011의 성별 점수 차이는 유의한 것으로 나타났다. TIMSS 2011에 참가한 42개국 중 성차가 없거나 여학생이 더 높은 성취도를 보인 국가는 35개국이며 남학생이 더 높은 성취도를 보인 국가는 우리나라를 포함하여 7개국이다. 수학 성취도의 성차는 사회문화적 요인과 수학학습태도와 연관이 있다는 여러 연구 결과가 있다. 본 연구는 TIMSS 2011에 참가한 중2학년 5,165명 남녀학생들의 수학성취도 결과를 분석하여 사회문화적 요인이 수학학습태도와 수학성취도에 미치는 영향을 찾아보았다. 연구결과 남녀학생의 교사선호도는 유의한 성차가 없었는데 학부모의 교육 참여도에 유의한 성차가 있었다. 여학생의 수학에 관한 가치와 수학에 관한 자신감은 남학생보다 유의하게 낮았다. 학부모의 교육 참여도는 여학생의 수학학습태도와 수학성취도에 더 높은 영향력을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 학부모들의 교육 참여도를 높이고 여학생들의 수학에 관한 가치와 자신감을 높이기 위해서는 여학생들의 롤 모델과 여성들의 과학 분야의 진출을 장려하는 사회적 요인의 조성이 함께 필요하다.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.303-321
• /
• 2015

This research purposes to find out the mathematical cognitive characteristics of Korean students and compare it with that of TIMSS 2011 high-achieving countries based on the Cognitive Diagnostic Theory. Based on framework and questions of TIMSS 2011, we select cognitive attributes. Using the data of 8th grade students' mathematical achievement in TIMSS 2011, we compare and analyze the top 15-countries students' cognitive traits. As a result, cognition domain of TIMSS 2011 is reclassified as 9 cognitive attributes. we could distinguish between easy attributes and difficult attributes that students in each country relatively think. Especially, Students of Korea relatively think Recall/Recognize, Compute, Classify/Measure and Represent are easy. On the other hand, relatively they have difficulties in Retrieve, Implement, and Generalize. Based on this research result, It is necessary to establish an educational measures for each attributes which students have difficulties.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2017

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) announced the TIMSS 2015 results at the end of 2016. In this research, we analyzed the relationship between Korean eighth grade students' attitude toward science and science achievement, trends in students' attitude toward science based on common items used in three to four cycles of TIMSS, and trends across grades in students' attitude toward science. According to the results, Korean eighth grade students showed the lowest level of confidence with science, interest in learning science, and valuing science among the 15 top performing countries as well as all the participant countries. In addition, according to the analysis result of common items, Korean students' confidence with science and interest in learning science have decreased, whereas students' valuing science with instrumental values has increased between TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. According to trends across grades, the cohort of students, assessed at the fourth grade in TIMSS 2011 and moved to the eighth grade four years later in 2015, decreased in their confidence with science and interest in learning science. Discussed in the conclusion are further studies and ways to improve science teaching and learning to improve students' attitude toward science.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.119-130
• /
• 2019

The TIMSS assessment is conducted every four years, and Korean fourth grade cohort in TIMSS 2011 participated in TIMSS 2015 again as eighth graders, which produced the first achievement data of the cohort group of elementary and middle schools. In this study, in order to investigate the causes of the decline in Korean students' science achievement with grade changes from the fourth to the eighth grade, we analyzed educational context variables such as characteristics of students, teachers, and classroom instructions of the top 5 achievement countries participated in both TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. According to the results, students' sense of school belonging increased, whereas students' positive attitudes toward science teaching decreased with the grade change from the fourth to the eighth. As for the teacher characteristics, the teacher's professional development activity increased, and the teacher's confidence in science teaching showed similar tendency to the international average. Regarding classroom instruction characteristics, the frequency of inquiry-related science activities was highest at the fourth grade, and lower than the international average at the eighth grade. Based the results, we suggested implications for science teaching and learning as well as further studies including development of differentiated strategy by the school level to improve students' achievement, the necessity of converting into more student-engaging science classes, and the necessity of in-depth study on the teacher related educational contextual variables.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.267-275
• /
• 2015

This research purports to find out the characteristics of Korean students cognitive attributes and compare it with that of high-achieving countries who took TIMSS 2011 based on the Cognitive Diagnostic Theory. Based on TIMSS 2011 Science framework, nine cognitive attributes were extracted and the researcher analyzed that 216 of the TIMSS 2011 science items require these attributes. This analysis was conducted to come up with a Q-matrix. After producing the Q-matrix, multi-level IRT was used to figure out each countries' characteristics for each of the cognitive attribute. According to the study results, four attributes, such as 'Use Models,' 'Interpret Information,' 'Draw Conclusions,' and 'Evaluate and justify' were easier attributes for Korean middle school students. However, the other five attributes such as 'Recall/Recognize', 'Explain', 'Classify', 'Integrate', 'Hypothesize and Design' were considered as harder attributes compared to other countries. Korean students also considered 'Interpret Information' as the easiest attributes, and 'Explain' as the hardest attributes of all. For Korean students, those attributes considered to be easy were the easiest and hard attributes as the hardest compared to other countries, showing very extreme cases. Therefore, to give students more meaningful learning experience, it is better to use all the attributes altogether rather than use specific attributes while constructing Science curriculum or textbooks.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.599-609
• /
• 2017

The goal of this research is to analyze the trend of Korean fourth grade students' achievement in TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015 science content domains and to suggest implications for science curriculum and teaching & learning improvement. With four elementary science teachers and three science educators, we analyzed Korean fourth grade students' percentage of correct responses in TIMSS 2015 science content and cognitive domains, and conducted item-curriculum matching analysis for test items. According to the results, Korean students performed relatively better in test topics covered in the science curriculum for 3-4 grades regardless of the science content domain (i.e., Life science, Physical science, or Earth science). Korean students showed low percentage of correct answers for items related to such topics as heat conduction, the action of electricity, the motion of the earth and the moon, etc., which were covered in the 5th-6th grades in the 2009 revised curriculum. For science cognitive domains, Korean students' achievement dropped significantly in reasoning between TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015. Discussed in the conclusion are implications to reconstruct elementary school science curriculum, and ways to improve science teaching and learning.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.625-633
• /
• 2018

The goal of this study is to investigate the features of Korean eighth graders' achievement and its trend in Chemistry in TIMSS 2011 and TIMSS 2015, and to explore its implications for Korean science curriculum and in teaching science. With three science educators and six science teachers, we analyzed the characteristics of Korean eighth graders' achievement in Chemistry by test-curriculum matching analysis. According to the trend analysis of science topics with released items for Chemistry in TIMSS 2015, Korean students' percentage for correct answers has dropped in topics such as regularities in chemical reactions, oxidation-reduction, etc. since these topics are covered after the ninth grade in the 2009 revised curriculum. For science cognitive domains, Korean students showed weaknesses in 'applying' domain in TIMSS 2015. Based on the results, we suggested implications for improvement in middle school chemistry curriculum and how to improve science teaching and learning for students' better science competencies and real-world application of science knowledge.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.487-498
• /
• 2015

This research is for acquiring implications to science education based on learner's characteristics by analyzing the relationship between contents on science learning and cognitive domain of students in elementary schools through TIMSS 2011-based academic achievement test. Forty one multiple choice items from by TIMSS 2011 were used on 317 primary school students, fourth to sixth grade, and according to grade and achievement level of research targets, test results were analyzed. With these data, the relationship between contents on science learning and the score by cognitive domains, and through correlation by items, we drew static and negative correlations, and then compared the value. The result are as follows: First, other fields except for 'physical science' and 'inference' revealed meaningful differences by learners' grade, and the interrelationship between all contents domains and cognitive fields also appeared statically different. Second, both achievement level of contents and cognition of learners presented significant differences, but the correlation between scientific contents and cognitive field of learners showed different aspects. Third, in static and negative correlation by items, the complexity and their aspects could be classified by targets' academic achievement levels.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.195-206
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of teacher on fourth-grade students' attitudes toward mathematics using data from TIMSS 2011. Students' attitudes toward mathematics included interest in learning mathematics, interest in mathematics lessons, and confidence in their mathematics ability. Teacher factors included mathematics professional development, confidence in teaching mathematics, teacher-centered mathematics instruction, and enhancing student mathematical thinking. The two level Hierarchical Linear Model was employed to analyze the relationship between teacher factors and student attitudes. Results showed that teacher-centered mathematics instruction significantly and positively predicted students' confidence about their mathematics ability. The findings suggest that school systems and mathematics educators need to provide teachers with the curriculum, assessment, and research-based practices and knowledge to overcome the obstacles to change their mathematics classroom.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.147-160
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) if sociocultural factors that are known to influence gender gap in mathematics achievement are gender equitable for Singaporean eighth grade students, (2) if there is a higher level of gender equitability in students' attitudes towards mathematics and (3) how sociocultural factors influence mathematics achievement for Singaporean eighth grade students. This study is based on 5,923 Singaporean eighth grade students who participated in TIMSS 2011 assessment. The study found that there were no statistically significant gender differences in 'parental involvement in education' and 'teacher efficacy.' There were no statistically significant gender differences in students' attitudes of 'like learning mathematics,' and 'value learning mathematics'. A significant gender difference was identified for the attitude of 'confident with mathematics.' The boys displayed a higher level of confidence in mathematics than the girls consistent with other study findings for Asian students. The degree of effect from 'parental involvement in education,' 'teacher efficacy,' and 'confident with mathematics' on mathematics achievement are found to be stronger for girls than boys. The finding implies that girls' mathematics achievement can benefit from having more positive encouragement and involvement of parents and teachers and strengthening confidence in mathematics.