The TIMSS 1995 eighth grade public release mathematics videos from Germany, Japan, and the United States (Stigler et al., 1999) generated a great deal of attention within the education community—although not the mathematics community—as well as extensive conversation about the teaching and learning of K-12 mathematics. However, sampling only three countries, the videos left the impression that there were “right ways” to teach mathematics. Also, the study’s lesson segments lacked crucial information, such as mathematical connections within a lesson and how teachers set up and conclude a lesson. In response, the TIMSS 1999 Video Study included more countries,[1] videotaped science as well as mathematics classrooms, and made available the public release lessons in their entirety.
These videos provide glimpses into the normal routines of regular classrooms.The TIMSS 1999 Mathematics Video Study provides a breadth and depth of research that can help U.S. educators re-examine their practices in the context of those in other countries (Gonzales et al., 2001; Martin et al., 1999; Martin et al., 2000a; Martin et al., 2000b; Mullis et al., July, 2000; Mullis et al., December, 2000. Unlike videotaped lessons from “exemplary” classrooms, the TIMSS Public Release Lessons provide snapshots of regular classrooms from countries that exhibited higher student achievement in mathematics and science than the United States in 1995 (Gonzales et al., 2001, p. 13). Though one cannot draw a direct link between student achievement and the videotaped classrooms (Hiebert, 2003), these videos provide glimpses into the normal routines of regular classrooms—routines that may be quite different from common conceptions of what constitutes effective learning and teaching.
The report Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study notes four advantages of studying teaching in different countries, namely to:
- reveal one’s own practices more clearly
- discover new teaching alternatives
- stimulate discussions about choices within each country
- deepen educators’ understanding of teaching.
Given that a teacher’s questions can affect the kind of thinking students do as they work on a problem, the TIMSS videos provide concrete examples of teacher questions. Hiebert notes that
The results of the 1999 study are not as easy to catch in a sound bite as the first [1995] study, but they push us harder to think about how to do these things . . . For example, one Czech lesson shows a student working a difficult . . . problem. While the student is working at the board, the teacher asks questions like, “How do you know?” “Why?” and “Can you explain this?” Those questions elevate the kind of thinking that is required of a student. . . . for students sitting and listening, the expectations of what they are supposed to be thinking about and doing while they work on problems like this really change if they realize they will be held responsible to explain why they are using particular procedures and why the procedures work. (Hiebert, 2003).
References
Gonzales, P., Calsyn, C., Jocelyn, L., Mak, K., Dastberg, D., Arafeh, S., Williams, T., & Tsen, W. (2001). Pursuing excellence: Comparisons of international eighth-grade mathematics and science achievement from a U.S. perspective, 1995 and 1999. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Hiebert, J. (2003). Improving mathematics teaching: New lessons from the TIMSS 1999 video study. Presentation at Research for Better Schools TIMSS Video Conference.
Martin, M.O., Mullis, I.V.S., Gonzalez, E.J., Smith, T.A., & Kelly, D.L. (1999). School contexts for learning and instruction: IEA’s third international mathematics and science study (TIMSS). Boston, MA: International Study Center.
Martin, M.O., Mullis, I.V.S., Gonzalez, E.J., Gregory, K.D., Smith, T.A., Chrostowski, S.J., Garden, R.A., & O’Connor, K.M. (2000a). TIMSS 1999 international science report: Findings from IEA’s repeat of the third international mathematics and science study at the eighth grade. Boston, MA: International Study Center.
Martin, M.O., Mullis, I.V.S., Gregory, K.D., Hoyle, C., & Shen, C. (2000b). Effective schools in science and mathematics: IEA’s third international mathematics and science study. Boston, MA: International Study Center.
Mullis, I.V.S., Martin, M.O., Fierros, E.G., Goldberg, A.L., & Stemler, S.E. (July, 2000). Gender differences in achievement: IEA’s international mathematics and science study (TIMSS). Boston, MA: International Study Center.
Mullis, I.V.S., Martin, M.O., Gonzalez, E,J., Gregory, K.D., Garden, R.A., O'Connor, K.M., Chrostowski, T.A., Smith, T.A. (December, 2000). TIMSS 1999 international mathematics report: Findings from IEA’s repeat of the third international mathematics and science study at the eighth grade. Boston, MA: International Study Center.
Stigler, J.W., Gonzales P., Kawanaka T., Knoll, S., and Serrano, A. (February, 1999). The TIMSS videotape classroom study: Methods and findings from an exploratory research project on eighth-grade mathematics instruction in Germany, Japan, and the United States, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (March 2003). Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study, NCES (2003-013), by A. M.-Y. Chiu, W. Etterbeek, R. Gallimore, H. Garnier, K. Bogard Givvin, P. Gonzales, J. Hiebert, H. Hollingsworth, J. Jacobs, N. Kersting, A. Manaster, C. Manaster, M. Smith, J. Stigler, E. Tseng, and D. Wearne. Washington, DC: Author.