- how much mathematics do know future university students,
- how much mathematics know students who intend to study mathematically oriented university studies,
- does our national curriculum require from students comparable level of knowledge to other countries,
- how demanding is the national external examination from mathematics, required for entering university, in comparison to requirements in other countries,
- what students think about learning mathematics and whether their low motivation is presenting a problem for mathematics education and
- which characteristics have good, effective teachers of mathematics.
All those answers were not found by any national study. But they are very important in time when countries in Europe are encouraged to cooperate in economy, education and science and future students are expected to be prepared for developing and living in knowledge based societies.
In 2008, the last generation of Slovene students from not reformed elementary schools were in their last grade of secondary school. TIMSS Advanced came in the right moment to evaluate the mathematics education of future university students when finishing the reformed program of gymnasium. As expected, internationally, TIMSS Advanced findings show large differences in percentages of students learning advanced mathematics over countries, with higher average achievement in countries with higher specialization in their mathematics programs. The target population in Slovenia (all students of gymnasium program) was much larger than in other countries and mathematics achievement was near the international average. National analyses showed that the best students in Slovenia reach the same level of knowledge as their colleagues in more specialized mathematics programs in other countries. The students’ motivation for mathematics was not found much lower than in other countries. Mathematics curriculum was found to be comparable and even demanding in some contents when compared to curricula of other countries. Characteristics and some critical points of national examination were revealed when we linked and analyzed TIMSS and matura scores on student level. Strong mathematics education of teachers has important influence on the achievement of their students. For students, good teacher means a teacher who explains the content well, better than textbooks, is authoritative and demanding, and these teachers’ characteristics were found to be also the most influential factors on the high mathematics achievement of the whole classes of students. TIMSS Advance gave Slovenia answers to most of its questions.
But, the main question for future research remains: what would be results from mathematics tests if other countries defined their target population of students to be as large as in Slovenia? Lower or higher? The answer is the next TIMSS Advanced study!
See more of: Education
See more of: Symposia