• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 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
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.135-142
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• 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.