Mathematics and science education around the world : what can we learn from the Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)?

Amid current efforts to improve mathematics and science education in the United States, people often ask how these subjects are organized and taught in other countries. They hear repeatedly that other countries produce higher student achievement. Teachers and parents wonder about the answers to questions like these: Why do the children in Asian cultures seem to be so good at science and mathematics? How are biology and physics taught in the French curriculum? What are textbooks like elsewhere, and how much latitude do teachers have in the way they follow the texts? Do all students receive the same education, or are they grouped by ability or perceived educational promise? If students are grouped, how early is this done? What are tests like, and what are the consequences for students? Are other countries engaged in Standards-like reforms? Does anything like "standards" play a role in other countries? Questions such as these reflect more than a casual interest in other countries' educational practices. They grow out of an interest in identifying ways to improve mathematics and science education in the United States. The focus of this short report is on what the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a major international investigation of curriculum, instruction, and learning in mathematics and science, will be able to contribute to understandings of mathematics and science education around the world as well as to current efforts to improve student learning, particularly in the United States. This report is designed to help frame discussion and analysis of data that will emerge from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a landmark study of mathematics and science education that investigates the mathematics and science curricula at three academic levels--age 9, age 13, and the last year of high school--in more than 40 countries. The primary source for this report is the first released component of TIMSS, the Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO). It also draws on related published documents and on informal consultation with TIMSS staff and highlights directions for further inquiry more than findings. The focus of this report is on what TIMSS will be able to contribute to the understanding of mathematics and science education around the world as well as to current efforts to improve student learning, particularly in the United States. Topics covered include information on TIMSS, opportunity to learn, kinds of information collected by TIMSS researchers, challenges and opportunities of cross-national research, information on SMSO, what can be learned from SMSO, intended curriculum, implemented curriculum and instructional practices, and further questions that might be explored by TIMSS. It is concluded that SMSO and TIMSS offer an important opportunity to learn more about international variations in curriculum and instructional practice in mathematics and science, and this data provides a rare opportunity in discourse about mathematics and science education, its analysis, and improvement. (JRH)