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Re: What to teach (was: American students do poorly)



In a 2/27/98 Phys-L posting =93What to teach (was: American students do
poorly), Tim Burgess writes:

=93The quote...(of P.D. Forgione of the National Center for Education
Statistics - see my post of 2/27/98 =93American students do poorly=94) no=
tes
how poorly US students did in Physics relative to other students. Who is
surprised? In my work here I gathered data on physics enrollment in the
surrounding 34 public high schools (by phone and visit to registrars of
those schools.) I established that about 11% of the public school
students who graduate (about 12% do not graduate) in this 6 county
region take *physics at all* in high school. (This is quite different
than the "estimates" from "mailed surveys".) Most students in this
region take physics the senior year.

THE CONCLUSION? TESTS INDICATE THAT OUR STUDENTS DON'T DO WELL IN A
SUBJECTS THEY ARE NOT EXPOSED TO.=94 (Our CAPS.)

Before impugning the validity of the TIMSS studies, it might be
worthwhile to examine the material available at=20
<http://nces.ed.gov/timss/>. Here is P.D. Forgione=92s full statement on
the results of the advanced students assessments (please note the CAPS
in the second and third paragraphs):

=93U.S. student performance on the assessments in Advanced Mathematics an=
d
Physics was among the lowest of participating countries and,
in both cases, below the international average. On the Advanced
Mathematics assessment, the U.S. was outperformed by 11 countries, was
similar to four countries, and did not outperform any country. On the
Physics assessment, the U.S. was outperformed by 14 countries, was the
same as one country, and did not outperform any country. On all five
content areas that make up Physics and all three content areas
comprising Advanced Mathematics, the U.S. was below the international
average and was outperformed by a majority of the other countries.

Who took the advanced TIMSS assessments? A random sample of the
approximately 10-20 percent of students in the last year of school in
each country took these tests. In the U.S. the students who took the
Advanced Mathematics TIMSS had already taken or were currently enrolled
in precalculus, calculus, or Advanced Placement Calculus. They
represented 14 percent of young people their age in the U.S. compared
with the 19 percent average for the 16 countries as a whole. IN THE
U.S. THE STUDENTS WHO TOOK THE PHYSICS ASSESSMENT HAD PREVIOUSLY TAKEN
OR WERE CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN PHYSICS. They represented 14 percent of
young people their age which was the same as the international average
for all participating countries. THEREFORE, THE U.S. PERFORMANCE WAS NOT
THE RESULT OF ANY DIFFERENCES IN THE SELECTIVITY OF STUDENTS TAKING THE
ASSESSMENTS.

When we compare these international students to our most advanced
students, we come closer to the international average. In the U.S., many
of our advanced students do not take calculus, but a quarter of the
items on TIMSS Advanced Mathematics assessment are Calculus questions.
When we looked at U.S. students who had taken calculus, we found that
their performance were close to the international advanced student
average. Six countries outperformed this U.S. Calculus population, seven
were similar, and the U.S. outperformed two countries. If we compare
only those U.S. students with Advanced Placement Calculus to the
international advanced mathematics group, only France outscored the U.S.
Advanced Placement students. The U.S. outperformed five countries and
seven were similar to the U.S. IN PHYSICS, WHEN THE U.S. ADVANCED
PLACEMENT PHYSICS STUDENTS WERE COMPARED WITH THE PHYSICS STUDENTS IN
OTHER COUNTRIES, THE U.S. STUDENTS WERE OUTPERFORMED BY FOUR COUNTRIES,
WERE SIMILAR TO TEN COUNTRIES, AND OUTPERFORMED ONE COUNTRY.=94 (Our CAPS=
)

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<hake@ix.netcom.com>
<http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/>