Abstract
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) involved 47 countries, thousands of students, and their teachers and schools. Included in the battery of tests and other instruments was a Student Questionnaire that was concerned with the personal and school contexts of the students in relation to their mathematics and science learning. Quite late in the planning of this very expensive study, it transpired that no country had considered gathering data on the students’ sense of the relevance of the science topics in the achievement tests, of their science learning, or, their metacognitive awareness of this learning. This paper reports one last minute attempt to collect these data from one group of student in Population 3—the students in the final year of schooling. Like many other aspects of TIMSS, the psychometric dominance in its design meant that this study was logistically very difficult, but some interesting findings are reported.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). (1998, February).TIMSS, Australian Population 3 Press Release. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Baird, J. (1984).Improving learning through enhanced metacognition. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.
Fensham, P. J. (1995). STS and comparative assessment of scientific literacy.Research in Science Education, 25(1), 33–8.
Fensham, P. J., & Haslam, F. (submitted). Problems of content in free response items in TIMSS.Research in Science Education.
Flavell, J. H. (1987). Speculations about the nature and development of metacognition. In F. E. Weinert, & R. H. Kluwe (Eds.),Metacognition, motivation and understanding (pp. 21–29). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gunstone, R. F. (1994). The importance of specific science content in the enhancement of metacognition. In P. J. Fensham, R. F. Gunstone, & R. T. White (Eds.),The content of science: A constructivist approach to its teaching and learning (pp. 131–146). London: Falmer Press.
Kemmis, S. (1986). Addison Hills: A case study of alienation and transition from school. In P. J. Fensham (Ed.),Alienation from schooling (Chapter 3). London: Routledge.
Macdonald, I., & Walsh, M. (1994, November).What year 10 students think about school and learning. Paper presented at annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Newcastle University, Newcastle, Australia.
Mitchell, J., & Mitchell, I. (1992). Some classroom procedures. In J. R. Baird, & J. R. Northfield (Eds.),Learning from the PEEL experience (pp. 210–268). Melbourne, Victoria: Monash University Printing Services.
Orpwood, G., & Garden, R. A. (1998).Assessing mathematics and science literacy (TIMSS Monograph No. 4). Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press.
Roberts, D. (1988). What counts as science education? In P. J. Fensham (Ed.),Developments and dilemmas in science education (pp. 27–54). London: Falmer Press.
White, R. T. (1988).Learning science (pp. 98–99). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fensham, P.J. Student response to the TIMSS test. Research in Science Education 28, 481–489 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461511
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461511