Abstract
East Asian education systems have consistently been outperforming their counterparts in mathematics and science on each and every cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) ever since its inception in 1995. The findings of the recent cycles of TIMSS reveal that Korea and Singapore are the top-performing countries in science in TIMSS 2011 at the fourth grade, followed by Finland, Japan, Russian Federation, and Chinese Taipei. At the eighth grade, Singapore had the highest average science achievement. This was followed by the next highest-performing countries for science achievement that are Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan. This study explored the predictive effects of eighth graders’ dispositions towards science on science achievement in five of the highest-performing education systems: Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, which participated in the TIMSS 2011. The results of the present study indicated that eighth graders’ liking and valuing of learning science and confidence in learning science were positively associated with their science achievement in these five education systems, except students’ liking of science in Japan. Implications of the findings for educational policy and practice are discussed.
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Lay, Y.F., Areepattamannil, S., Ng, K.T., Khoo, C.H. (2015). Dispositions Towards Science and Science Achievement in TIMSS 2011: A Comparison of Eighth Graders in Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. In: Khine, M. (eds) Science Education in East Asia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16390-1_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16390-1_24
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