Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011

Mustafa Sami Topçu; Evrim Erbilgin; Serkan Arikan

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

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Mustafa Sami Topçu ¹ ^* , Evrim Erbilgin ², Serkan Arikan ²

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¹ Yildiz Technical University² Mugla Sitki Kocman University^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study makes an important contribution to an expanding body of international comparative studies by exploring factors predicting differences in science and mathematics achievement by students in Turkey and the Republic of Korea on the 2011 TIMSS assessment. While these countries are similar with regards to population size, cultural beliefs about education, and public expenditure on education, students in each country have different levels of achievement in science and mathematics. The current research investigated how aptitude, instruction, and environment related factors predict Turkish and Korean students’ achievement in science and mathematics. In both countries, some factors, such as student aptitude (e.g., science self-efficacy) and environmental (e.g., parental educational level) factors significantly predicted students’ science and mathematics achievement. However, we found some differences between the two countries regarding certain classroom environmental variables, such as bullying and student sense of belonging at school. We discuss educational implications for these findings.

Keywords

student aptitude variables
instructional variables
environmental variables
mathematics achievement
science achievement
TIMSS 2011

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 12, Issue 7, July 2016, 1711-1737

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

Publication date: 04 Apr 2016

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How to cite this article

APA

Topçu, M. S., Erbilgin, E., & Arikan, S. (2016). Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 12(7), 1711-1737. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

Vancouver

Topçu MS, Erbilgin E, Arikan S. Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2016;12(7):1711-37. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

AMA

Topçu MS, Erbilgin E, Arikan S. Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2016;12(7), 1711-1737. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

Chicago

Topçu, Mustafa Sami, Evrim Erbilgin, and Serkan Arikan. "Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2016 12 no. 7 (2016): 1711-1737. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

Harvard

Topçu, M. S., Erbilgin, E., and Arikan, S. (2016). Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 12(7), pp. 1711-1737. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a

MLA

Topçu, Mustafa Sami et al. "Factors Predicting Turkish and Korean Students’ Science and Mathematics Achievement in TIMSS 2011". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 12, no. 7, 2016, pp. 1711-1737. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1530a