A Comparative Investigation of South Africa's High-Performing Learners on Selected TIMSS Items Comprising Multiplicative Concepts

Autor/inn/en	Long, Caroline; Wendt, Heike
Titel	A Comparative Investigation of South Africa's High-Performing Learners on Selected TIMSS Items Comprising Multiplicative Concepts
Quelle	In: African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 21 (2017) 2, S.109-124 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1029-8457
DOI	10.1080/18117295.2017.1306343
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Comparative Analysis; Multiplication; Comparative Education; Academic Achievement; High Achievement; Grade 9; Mathematics Achievement; Trend Analysis; Difficulty Level; Test Items; Geometry; Data Analysis; Problem Solving; Achievement Tests; Science Achievement; Elementary Secondary Education; International Assessment; Mathematics Tests; Science Tests; Statistical Analysis; Grade 8; South Africa; Australia; United Kingdom (England); Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Multiplikation; Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft; Schulleistung; School year 09; 9. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 09; Mathmatics sikills; Mathmatics achievement; Mathematical ability; Mathematische Kompetenz; Trendanalyse; Schwierigkeitsgrad; Test content; Testaufgabe; Geometrie; Auswertung; Problemlösen; Achievement test; Achievement; Testing; Test; Tests; Leistungsbeurteilung; Leistungsüberprüfung; Leistung; Testdurchführung; Testen; Statistische Analyse; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Südafrika; Süd-Afrika; Republik Südafrika; Südafrikanische Republik; Australien
Abstract	South Africa participated in TIMSS from 1995 to 2015. Over these two decades, some positive changes have been reported on the aggregated mathematics performance patterns of South African learners. This paper focuses on the achievement patterns of South Africa's high-performing Grade 9 learners (n = 3378) in comparison with similar subsamples of learners from Australia (n = 6581) and England (n = 3439) whose education systems are regarded as comparable. The aim of this study is to describe the relative strengths and weaknesses of these learners with reference to a selected subset of the TIMSS-2011 items comprising multiplicative concepts. The focus is on a specific though important content subdomain, the multiplicative conceptual field, which is considered a crucial learning area at this phase of schooling. The percentage correct scores were compared. In addition a Rasch analysis was applied to render both item difficulty and person proficiency on a single scale. In particular, the research outcome shows that this subset of South African Grade 9 students is able to solve routine problems, but lacks proficiency when it comes to application-type or reasoning-type problems. The Australian and English subsets show comparable strengths across all three problem types. We conclude that the factors determining performance include mathematical difficulty. However, where radically different outcomes across the three countries emerge, such differences may be explained by country-specific curricula implementation. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01