This open access report explores the nature and extent of students’ misconceptions and misunderstandings related to core concepts in physics and mathematics and physics across grades four, eight and ...12. Twenty years of data from the IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and TIMSS Advanced assessments are analyzed, specifically for five countries (Italy, Norway, Russian Federation, Slovenia, and the United States) who participated in all or almost all TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced assessments between 1995 and 2015. The report focuses on students’ understandings related to gravitational force in physics and linear equations in mathematics. It identifies some specific misconceptions, errors, and misunderstandings demonstrated by the TIMSS Advanced grade 12 students for these core concepts, and shows how these can be traced back to poor foundational development of these concepts in earlier grades. Patterns in misconceptions and misunderstandings are reported by grade, country, and gender. In addition, specific misconceptions and misunderstandings are tracked over time, using trend items administered in multiple assessment cycles. The study and associated methodology may enable education systems to help identify specific needs in the curriculum, improve inform instruction across grades and also raise possibilities for future TIMSS assessment design and reporting that may provide more diagnostic outcomes.
This open access book, inspired by the ICME 13 Thematic Afternoon on “European Didactic Traditions”, takes readers on a journey with mathematics education researchers, developers and educators in ...eighteen countries, who reflect on their experiences with Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), the domain-specific instruction theory for mathematics education developed in the Netherlands since the late 1960s. Authors from outside the Netherlands discuss what aspects of RME appeal to them, their criticisms of RME and their past and current RME-based projects. It is clear that a particular approach to mathematics education cannot simply be transplanted to another country. As such, in eighteen chapters the authors describe how they have adapted RME to their individual circumstances and view on mathematics education, and tell their personal stories about how RME has influenced their thinking on mathematics education.
This open access book presents the assessment framework for IEA’s International Computer an Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018, which is designed to assess how well students are prepared for ...study, work and life in a digital world. The study measures international differences in students’ computer and information literacy (CIL): their ability to use computers to investigate, create, participate and communicate at home, at school, in the workplace and in the community. Participating countries also have an option for their students to complete an assessment of computational thinking (CT). The ICILS assessment framework articulates the basic structure of the study, providing a description of the field and the constructs to be measured. This book outlines the design and content of the measurement instruments, sets down the rationale for those designs, and describes how measures generated by those instruments relate to the constructs. Hypothesized relations between constructs provide the foundation for some of the analyses that follow. Above all, the framework links ICILS to other similar research, enabling the contents of this assessment framework to combine theory and practice in an explication of both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of ICILS.
This open access book examines the interrelationship of national policy, teacher effectiveness, and student outcomes with a specific emphasis on educational equity. Using data from the IEA’s Trends ...in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted between 1995 and 2015, it investigates grade four and grade eight data to assess trends in key teacher characteristics (experience, education, preparedness, and professional development) and teacher behaviors (instructional time and instructional content), and how these relate to student outcomes. Taking advantage of national curriculum data collected by TIMSS to assess changes in curricular strategy across countries and how these may be related to changes in teacher and student factors, the study focuses on the distributional impact of curriculum and instruction on students, paying particular attention to overall inequalities and variations in socioeconomic status at the student and country level, and how such factors have altered over time. Multiple methods, including regression and fixed effects analyses, and structural equation modelling, establish the evolution of these associations over time.
The importance of fairness, validity, and accessibility in assessment is greater than ever as testing expands to include more diverse populations, more complex purposes, and more sophisticated ...technologies. This book offers a detailed account of fairness in assessment, and illustrates the interplay between assessment and broader changes in education. In 16 chapters written by leading experts, this volume explores the philosophical, technical, and practical questions surrounding fair measurement. Fairness in Educational Assessment and Measurement addresses issues pertaining to the construction, administration, and scoring of tests, the comparison of performance across test takers, grade levels and tests, and the uses of educational test scores. Perfect for researchers and professionals in test development, design, and administration, Fairness in Educational Assessment and Measurement presents a diverse array of perspectives on this topic of enduring interest.
The training of academic faculty in teaching and evaluation has become a mandatory requirement in Europe. This volume aims to propose a review of research about the IRIDI training project carried out ...at the University of Turin for university professors, in accordance with international contributions and data collected over six years of training. The study allows, on the one hand, for an in-depth examination of the topics involved in the training process and, on the other, for a wide repository of data collected with validated instruments. These offer indications of the effectiveness of the proposed courses and identify factors that differentiate outcomes. In particular are explored the IRIDI FULL course for teaching support dedicated to in-service professors, and the IRIDI START course for researchers, especially newly hired. This paper represents the second research report on the topic proposed in this Series (Coggi, Innovare la didattica e la valutazione in Università, 2019) and is aimed at sharing study outcomes to stimulate further research.
The training of academic faculty in teaching and evaluation has become a mandatory requirement in Europe. This volume aims to propose a review of research about the IRIDI training project carried out ...at the University of Turin for university professors, in accordance with international contributions and data collected over six years of training. The study allows, on the one hand, for an in-depth examination of the topics involved in the training process and, on the other, for a wide repository of data collected with validated instruments. These offer indications of the effectiveness of the proposed courses and identify factors that differentiate outcomes. In particular are explored the IRIDI FULL course for teaching support dedicated to in-service professors, and the IRIDI START course for researchers, especially newly hired. This paper represents the second research report on the topic proposed in this Series (Coggi, Innovare la didattica e la valutazione in Università, 2019) and is aimed at sharing study outcomes to stimulate further research.
This open access book, inspired by the ICME 13 Thematic Afternoon on “European Didactic Traditions”, consists of 17 chapters, in which educators from the Netherlands reflect on the teaching and ...learning of mathematics in their country and the role of the Dutch domain-specific instruction theory of Realistic Mathematics Education. Written by mathematics teachers, mathematics teacher educators, school advisors, and developers and researchers in the field of instructional material, textbooks, and examinations, the book offers a multitude of perspectives on important issues in Dutch mathematics education, both at primary and secondary school levels. Topics addressed include the theoretical underpinnings of the Dutch approach, the subject of mathematics in the Dutch educational system, teacher education and testing, the history of mathematics education and the use of history in teaching of mathematics, changes over time in subject matter domains and in the use of technology, and the process of innovation and how the Dutch and in particular one Dutch institute have worked on the reform.
Classroom Assessment and Educational Measurement explores the ways in which the theory and practice of both educational measurement and the assessment of student learning in classroom settings ...mutually inform one another. Chapters by assessment and measurement experts consider the nature of classroom assessment information, from student achievement to affective and socio-emotional attributes; how teachers interpret and work with assessment results; and emerging issues in assessment such as digital technologies and diversity/inclusion. This book uniquely considers the limitations of applying large-scale educational measurement theory to classroom assessment and the adaptations necessary to make this transfer useful. Researchers, graduate students, industry professionals, and policymakers will come away with an essential understanding of how the classroom assessment context is essential to broadening contemporary educational measurement perspectives.
