This study examines how linguistic features in the Swedish Grade 8 Science items from TIMSS 2011 correlate with results from different groups of students. The language use in different science ...subjects is analysed using four characteristic meaning dimensions of science: Packing, Precision, Presentation of information and Personification within the text, as well as using conventional measures of readability and information load. For each subject, one or more of the meaning dimensions show statistically significant correlations with students’ performances. Many meaning dimensions shown to influence high performers’ results are not influencing low performers, and vice versa. The use of meaning dimensions is shown to be an enriching complementary method for analysing language use in science, as it links language use in items with student performances where conventional measures do not. Unexpected findings are that placing items in everyday contexts lowers the likelihood of them being answered correctly, and that skilled readers are aided by high precision in items whereas less skilled readers seems unaffected.
This open access book presents a person-centered exploration of student profiles, using variables related to motivation to do school mathematics derived from the IEA’s Trends in International ...Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data. Statistical cluster analysis is used to identify groups of students with similar motivational profiles, across grades and over time, for multiple participating countries. While motivational variables systematically relate to school outcomes, linear relationships can obscure the diverse makeup of student subgroups, each with varying combinations of motivation, emotions, and attitudes. In this book, a person-centered analysis of distinct and meaningful motivational profiles and their differences on sociodemographic variables and mathematics performance broadens understanding about the role that motivation characteristics play in learning and achievement in mathematics. Exploiting the richness of IEA’s TIMSS data from many countries, extracted clusters reveal consistent, as well as certain nuanced patterns that are systematically linked to sociodemographic and achievement measures. Student clusters with inconsistent motivational profiles were found in all countries; mathematics self-confidence then emerged as the variable more closely associated with average achievement. The findings demonstrate that teachers, researchers, and policymakers need to take into account differential student profiles, prioritizing techniques that target skill and competence in mathematics, in educational efforts to develop student motivation.
Educational opportunities in the home, at school, and within the community differ across countries and affect students’ achievement and future success in science fields. Bandura’s Social (Social ...foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, 1986) and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory (Ecological models of human development. In International Encyclopedia of Education, 1994) both support the notion that students’ attitudes towards science and home resources can be associated with their academic achievement. In order to examine the possible home and student level factors in science achievement, we examined fourth graders’ home resources and attitudes towards science in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 in South Korea, Turkey, and the United States where students’ science achievement scores varied. Findings from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that having a positive attitude toward science and more home resources positively related to fourth grade students’ science scores. Among different home resources, the number of books owned at home appeared to better predict students’ science scores. Providing students with science books in early grades may increase their interest in science and contribute to their science achievement in the future. Longitudinal studies of science achievement in these three countries and other countries may be included in further research.
This paper examines the mediating role of parental literacy and numeracy involvement before the child entered school in the relationship between family socio-economic status (SES) and students’ ...interest in reading and mathematics. Causal mediation analysis is applied to international assessment data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study-Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 combined study. Results provide weak support for the subject-specific parental cognitive involvement mediating mechanism in the association between family SES and subject-specific interest. In general, the total association with family SES is not strong and the direct role of parental cognitive involvement in students’ interest appears to be more relevant than its role via family SES.
Parental involvement is essential for children’s education. Several studies have examined relationships between parental involvement and parents’ socioeconomic status. However, less attention has ...been placed on school influences on parental involvement, even though schools play an important role in children’s education and can affect the parents as well. This study addressed the following question: Is informative outreach associated with parental involvement? What types of informative school outreach are strongly associated with parental involvement in elementary and middle school? The present study examined a nationally representative sample of elementary and middle school children in Japan (3939 fourth grade students from 140 schools and 4132 eighth grade students from 133 schools) from the Trends International Mathematics and Science Study 2011. The findings revealed that different types of informative school outreach have different associations depending on the school level. For the sample of elementary school children, informing parents about school was positively associated with home-based parental involvement. However, for the middle school children, informing parents about their child’s learning progress was positively associated with parental involvement.
The aims of this study are to: (a) assess if cognitive self-concept (competence) and affective self-concept in mathematics and science are different constructs, (b) evaluate the construct validity of ...self-concept in the context of conflation and separation, and (c) test if the relationships among cognitive and affective variables are invariant across gender. The data for this study were obtained from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 database. Data about 2,687 out of 4,099 eighth grade Saudi students were subject to various analyses. The variables used in this study were mathematics and science self-concepts, and mathematics and science subject value as part of the Students Background Questionnaire. The relationships among constructs were examined with the use of SPSS16 and the structural equation modeling software, AMOS16. The results demonstrated that subject value and self-concept were different constructs. Also, the results demonstrated that cognitive and affective self-concepts were independent, but strongly related constructs, and the structure of the construct was clearer when self-concept was separated into cognitive and affective components than when it was conflated. The relationships among cognitive, affective, and subject value in mathematics and science were invariant across gender. However, their relationships with achievement were not invariant across gender.
A recent editorial in International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education (IRGEE) highlighted an opportunity for the inclusion of geography as a subject in the Trends in International ...Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests. At present, TIMSS tests only encompass mathematics and physical sciences. The IRGEE editors encouraged geography educators to take the initiative and be proactive for a TIMSS international assessment in geography to become a reality. This paper reports on a research project to identify the perceptions of the global geography education community on the advantages and challenges of initiating and implementing such tests. The authors highlight a number of consistencies and tensions revealed by the respondents as well as potential issues of validity, reliability and fairness of a geography assessment instrument. The implications of these findings for ongoing research are discussed.
Background: The acquired skill set prior to school entry has emerged as an important issue in research and policy internationally. Much evidence exists advocating the importance of early numeracy and ...literacy skills in later academic achievement and economic outcomes of students.Aim: The goal of this study was to determine the association between parents’ reports of engagement in pre-Grade 1 learning activities and school entry skills, and mathematics achievement in Grade 5.Setting: This study was based on empirical evidence using South African data from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.Methods: These relationships were investigated by using stepwise multiple regression analysis.Results: It was found that parent reports of engagement in pre-Grade 1 activities and acquired school entry skills are positively associated with student achievement at the Grade 5 level. This held even when taking other contextual home factors into account: socio-economic status and the frequency of speaking the language of the test at home.Conclusion: The role of the home is important in preparing children for school and has an impact on their later achievement. The home context should therefore be a key consideration in enhancing the South African education system. Parent reports are a good indicator of engagement in early learning activities and acquired numeracy and literacy skills prior to school entry.
This article provides the background and context to the important issue of assessment and equity in relation to Indigenous students in Australia. Questions about the validity and fairness of ...assessment are raised and ways forward are suggested by attending to assessment questions in relation to equity and culture-fair assessment. Patterns of under-achievement by Indigenous students are reflected in national benchmark data and international testing programmes like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Program for International Student Assessment. The argument developed views equity, in relation to assessment, as more of a sociocultural issue than a technical matter. It highlights how teachers need to distinguish the "funds of knowledge" that Indigenous students draw on and how teachers need to adopt culturally responsive pedagogy to open up the curriculum and assessment practice to allow for different ways of knowing and being.
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