On Fri Nov 1 09:33:26 2002, Mary Ellen Krueger wrote Re. Re: Terc
> A good resource is "Mathematics Benchmarking Report TIMSS 1999 - >Eighth Grade the ISBN is 1-889938-19-X. This research supports the >TERC philosophy of teaching.
Ms Krueger:
There is not consensus in interpretations of the findings in TIMSS. Some analysis refutes claims such as yuors that the teaching practices in top performing countries in TIMSS reflect the teaching approaches advocated in NCTM reform programs.
You might be interested in the analysis of Professor Alan Siegel (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University), "Telling Lessons from the TIMSS Videotape: Remarkable Teaching Practices as Recorded from Eighth-Grade Mathematics Classes in Japan, Germany and the US"
Professr Siegel has looked anew at the TIMSS videotapes. In Japan, Siegel finds teacher-guided instruction (including a wide variety of hints and helps from teachers while students are working on or presenting solutions). In both Japanese algebra and geometry classes, he points out that the tapes contain no evidence of students inventing or discovering new mathematical principles or solution methods. The students do gain a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. Japanese lessons do not include a significant amount of group work before students have worked on their own. The Japanese math teachers use an interactive teaching approach of "grappling and telling," together with subtle reinforcement techniques. Japanese lessons make extensive use of proof-based reasoning. Japanese instruction uses more lecturing and demonstrations than do traditionalist American math teachers.
Siegel also finds that coding guidelines devised by nonmathematicians have distorted some aspects of previous studies of the videotapes.
