TIMSS 1999 Video Study Public Release Lessons

What does teaching look like around the world?

If you could peer into a classroom in a foreign country, what would you see? If you could see multiple lessons from that country, what patterns would emerge? If you could do the same across several countries, how would you further refine your images? The logistics of such an undertaking are formidable and nearly impossible for any single person. However, the authors of this article, as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 Video Study, were able to participate in the endeavor described above - albeit via video, rather than in person. One aim of the study was to describe teaching in each country by examining the lessons on a wide range of criteria. One way to examine the resulting data is to compare the countries on those individual descriptors. This perspective, reported elsewhere (Hiebert et al. 2003a), conveys the complex ways in which patterns of teaching in these countries are similar to, and different from, one another. The disadvantage of this approach is that it becomes difficult to pull from the analyses a simple answer to the question, "What is teaching like in each country?" The authors sought an answer to that question. Their search began through informal discussions. What had they seen? What characterizations emerged? For each of the seven participating countries, the authors identified and collectively agreed on a single theme. They then returned to the data - both quantitative and qualitative - and looked for evidence to support their impressions. In the article they present each characterization along with analyses, video images, and teacher commentaries that substantiate it.

Givvin, K.B., Jacobs, J.K., Hollingsworth (2006). What does teaching look like around the world? ON-Math, 4(1).

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Does eighth-grade mathematics teaching in the United States align with the NCTM Standards? Results from the TIMSS 1995 and 1999 Video Studies

Debates about the future of school mathematics in the United States often center on whether standards-based instruction is improving or undermining students' achievement. Critical for making progress in these debates is information about the actual nature of classroom practice in U.S. classrooms. This article focuses on one key element of classroom practice-teaching-and presents the results of two studies of randomly selected, nationally representative U.S. eighth-grade mathematics lessons that were videotaped as part of the TIMSS 1995 and 1999 Video Studies. The picture drawn from the Video Studies suggests that classroom practice is not consistent with the Grades 6-8 Process Standards of Principles and Standards. Although some teaching practices recommended by these standards were observed in some lessons, the typical eighth-grade classroom displays teaching at odds in many respects with the recommendations.

Jacobs, J., Hiebert, J., Givvin, K., Hollingsworth, H., Garnier, H., Wearne, D., (2006). Does eighth-grade mathematics teaching in the United States align with the NCTM Standards? Results from the TIMSS 1995 and 1999 Video Studies, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 37(1), 5-32.

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Teaching Science in Five Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study.

The report, released by the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Science Foundation, examines eighth-grade science teaching in Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States with a representative sample of 439 videotapes of eighth-grade science lessons from the participating countries.

Each of the higher-achieving countries had different strategies for engaging students with content. Czech eighth-grade science lessons were dense with science facts and concepts and engaged students with challenging content that included many technical science terms and theoretical explanations. Students were expected to make public their science knowledge through whole-class discussions, presentations, and assessments. Australian and Japanese lessons made connections between science concepts and first-hand evidence. Just one or two main ideas were addressed in each lesson, but each idea was developed in depth with students using first-hand evidence to support the development of science concepts. Lessons were conceptually coherent, with activities closely aligned with science concepts and multiple sources of evidence to support each main idea. In the Netherlands, students engaged with science content ideas independently. Students monitored their own learning by pacing their work on long-term assignments and by checking their own work as they proceeded. Students used the textbook to guide their independent work, whether done in class or for homework, that often required reading and writing.

Roth, K.J., Druker, S.L., Garnier, H.E., Lemmens, M., Chen, C., Kawanaka, T., Rasmussen, D., Trubacova, S., Warvi, D., Okamoto, Y., Gonzales, P., Stigler, J., & Gallimore, R. (2006). Teaching Science in Five Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. NCES (2006-011). U.S. Department of Education. Washington D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics.

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Are there national teaching scripts? Evidence from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study

Using data on eighth-grade mathematics teaching from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study, this article examines three dimensions of classroom practice (purpose, classroom interaction, and content activity) at multiple time points across the lessons. Data provide some evidence for both national and global patterns and show that there is more evidence for national patterns of teaching in some countries than in others.

Givvin, K. B., Hiebert, J., Jacobs, J., Hollingsworth, H., & Gallimore, R. (2005). Are there national patterns of teaching? Evidence from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Comparative Education Review, 49(3), 311-343.

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Mathematics Teaching in the United States Today (and Tomorrow): Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study

This article suggests that teachers in higher-achieving countries taught mathematics in different ways (no single method is necessary for high performance on international tests) but teachers in most higher-achieving countries shared a few features of teaching. Teachers in the United States displayed a unique method of teaching, not because of any particular feature but because of a distinctive constellation of features.

Hiebert, J., Stigler, J., Jacobs, J., Givvin, K. B., Garnier, H., Smith, M., Hollingsworth, H., Manaster, A., Wearne, D., & Gallimore, R. (2005). Mathematics teaching in the United States today (and tomorrow): Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27, 111-132.

Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study

This is the official TIMSS 1999 Video Study mathematics report released by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Included throughout the report are video examples.

Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., Garnier, H., Givvin, K. B., Hollingsworth, H., Jacobs, J., Chui, A. M., Wearne, D., Smith, M., Kersting, N., Manaster, A., Tseng, E., Etterbeek, W., Manaster, C., Gonzales, P., & Stigler, J.  (2003).   Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study, NCES (2003-013), U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

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Highlights from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study of Eighth-Grade Mathematics Teaching

This document provides summary highlights from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study Mathematics Report.

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TIMSS 1999 Video Study Technical Report, Volume 1: Mathematics

This first volume of the TIMSS 1999 Video Study Technical Report focuses on every aspect of the planning, implementation, processing, analysis, and reporting of the mathematics component of the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. The report is intended to serve as a record of the actions and documentations of outcomes, to be used in interpreting the results, and as a reference for future studies.

Jacobs, J., Garnier, H., Gallimore, R., Hollingsworth, H., Givvin, K. B., Rust, K., Kawanaka, T., Smith, M., Wearne, D., Manaster, A., Etterbeek, W., Hiebert, J., & Stigler, J. (2003). TIMSS 1999 Video Study Technical Report: Volume 1: Mathematics Study.  U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

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Teaching Mathematics in Australia

This is the TIMSS 1999 Video Study mathematics report released by the Australian Council for Educational Research.

Hollingsworth, H., Lokan, J., & McCrae (2003). Teaching mathematics in Australia: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.

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Understanding and Improving Classroom Mathematics Teaching: Highlights from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study

This article summarizes the findings of the mathematics portion of the TIMSS 1999 Video Study.

Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., Garnier, H., Givvin, K. B., Hollingsworth, H., Jacobs, J., Chui, A. M.-Y., Wearne, D., Smith, M., Kersting, N., Manaster, A., Tseng, E., Etterbeek, W., Manaster, C., Gonzales, P., & Stigler, J. W. (2003). Understanding and improving mathematics teaching: Highlights from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Phi Delta Kappan, 84 (10), 768-775.

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Improving Mathematics Teaching

This article discusses both the 1995 and the 1999 TIMSS Video Studies and uses result to inform recommendations for improving teaching.

Stigler, J. & Hiebert, J. (2004). Improving mathematics teaching. Educational Leadership, 61(5), 12-17.

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New Heroes of the Teaching Profession

This article provides a viewpoint on the heroic efforts of teachers who permit their teaching to be shared with and analyzed by colleagues.  It also tells a story of how one such teacher was publicly acknowledged.

Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., & Stigler, J. (2003). New heroes of the teaching profession. Education Week, 23(10), 56.

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A World of Difference

An international study of mathematics and science education tells us more about what we need to know to improve math and science teaching and professional development drawing on lessons from The TIMSS 1999 Video Study. This paper pinpoints key similarities among high-achieving countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

Hiebert, J. & Stigler, J. (2004). A world of difference: Classrooms abroad provide lessons in teaching math and science. Journal of Staff Development, 25(4), pages

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Using Video Surveys to Compare Classrooms and Teaching Across Cultures

Drawing from experience in working with two cross-cultural video studies, the authors present some of the challenges of studying classrooms across cultures and some of the wyas in which the video survey can deal with these challenges.