Chemical Education Today
Editorial
Are All of the Children Below Average? There has been a great deal of discussion of the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and that discussion has intensified since publication in February of the secondary-school results. Compiled by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), which is headquartered at Boston College, TIMSS is the result of successful collaboration among research centers in 45 countries. More than half a million students were surveyed in more than 30 different languages. Surveys were done at five grade levels (third, fourth, seventh, eighth, and final year of secondary school) and in 15,000 participating schools. Complete reports and executive summaries are available at the IEA Web site (http://wwwcsteep.bc.edu/timss) or by U.S. Postal Service from TIMSS International Study Center, Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, Campion Hall, School of Education, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167. The number of interesting and important comparisons and the number of lessons to be learned from TIMSS is far too great to summarize here, and so I hope you will look carefully at the reports. In the third and fourth grades, U.S. students scored near the top in science and above average in mathematics. The vast majority of students in fourth grade in all countries, both boys and girls, said that they liked math and science. On average they reported spending about an hour a day on math outside of class time and between half an hour and an hour on science. For most countries gender differences were very small or nonexistent in math, but boys had significantly higher scores in earth and physical science in about half the countries. There was a strong correlation of educational resources in the home (computer, dictionary, child’s own desk, and 100 or more books) with math and science scores. In the seventh and eighth grades U.S. students’ Most…eighth graders relative scores had fallen to a little above the average in reported liking math science and below average and science to some in mathematics. Far-eastern degree, and liking the countries such as Korea, Japan, and Singapore were subjects correlated near the top in both elpositively with ementary and middleachievement. school studies. For most countries gender differences were minimal in mathematics, but pervasive in science, with boys significantly outscoring girls in physics, chemistry, and earth science. Home factors were strongly related to achievement in every country. Most, but not all, eighth graders reported liking math and science to some degree, and liking the subjects correlated positively with achievement. Many countries reported using calculators, most had classes of 30 students or fewer, and teacher-presented classroom demonstrations were common in science classes. Eighth graders reported spending an average of two to three hours a day on homework.
By the time they reached the final year of secondary school (which was not simple to define, given the differences in educational systems), males had significantly higher scores in total math and science literacy for all countries but one. In the U.S. there were no significant gender differences in mathematics literacy, but there were in science. U.S. scores were significantly below average in both math and science— third from the bottom in the former. The number of countries reporting in the secondary-school In my view the study was much smaller than for the earlier grades. Fewer far-eastTIMSS results ern countries were included. indicate that we The science literacy test items in the U.S. attempted to measure how well students could apply their knowlought to be edge to real-world problems with challenging our a science component. Two addistudents more tional, advanced tests were included for those students who had in math and taken advanced math courses and/ science. or physics. Of 16 countries reporting scores on the advanced tests, the U.S. ranked next to last in math and last in physics. Solving equations frequently and doing reasoning tasks correlated with high achievement in advanced math. Using calculators frequently was characteristic of high performance in all three tests. The trend in U.S. scores, from well above average in third and fourth grades to average at middle-school level and to well below average in the final year of secondary school, has generated heated discussion. I wonder whether this downward trend continues into the college years. The number of factors involved in student scores on tests such as these is very large, but we certainly ought to debate what we could do to reverse it. Some ideas about this, generated as a result of a National Public Radio program, are available at http:// www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/march98/education_3-24.html. More than 80% of U.S. students reported that they usually did well in math and science—a perception that seems off the mark, considering their scores relative to other countries, where only 70% reported doing well. And U.S. students reported studying for less than one hour per day, compared with two to three hours averaged over all countries, perhaps because U.S. students are much more likely to be working at a paid job. In my view the TIMSS results indicate that we in the U.S. ought to be challenging our students more in math and science. I also think that we should make certain that the challenging work is embedded in a supportive, humane environment that encourages their interest in science and math. Our goal ought to be to encourage and empower each student to achieve at the highest possible level. If we succeed in this, improved test scores will follow automatically.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 75 No. 6 June 1998 • Journal of Chemical Education
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