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

Ecologies of participation in school classrooms

“…Many aspects of usual school mathematics are common features of the way mathematics is taught in schools elsewhere. In a study of seven countries (Australia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the US) the most common pattern found was for students to work individually, 90% of lessons making use of a textbook or worksheet, and in all countries teachers talked more than the students by a ratio of at least 8:1 (Hiebert et al, 2003). The most significant variation is in Japanese teaching where students engage in significantly more problems of medium and high complexity problems which cannot be solved by application solely with procedural knowledge.…”

Editorial Introduction

“…Wherever they are located, lessons "have a routineness about them that ensures a degree of consistency and predictability" (Kawanaka et al 1999, p. 91). This sense of routine predictability has been variously described as the traditions of classroom mathematics (Cobb et al 1992), the characteristic pedagogical flow of a lesson (Schmidt et al 1996), the cultural script and the lesson signature (Hiebert et al 2003). Such descriptions allude to repeatedly enacted pedagogical strategies typical of a country's lesson (Cogan and Schmidt 1999).…”

Introducción a la sección especial: psicología en el aula

“…Esta tendencia ha influido en la generación de políticas y programas de gran escala para mejorar la formación de profesores en el mundo. Por otra parte, centros de investigación de alta influencia han concentrado esfuerzos en el estudio de prácticas pedagógicas, con el fin de generar evidencia para modelar y sustentar experiencias ejemplares de impacto global (Clarke, Keitel & Shimizu, 2006;Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005;Hiebert et al, 2003). Por una parte, esta tendencia responde a la necesidad de comprender y sistematizar el núcleo del conocimiento de contenido pedagógico (Shulman, 1986) y, por otra, a la necesidad de clarificar los patrones más efectivos para su transmisión y adquisición entre profesionales de la enseñanza.…”