engleski

The representation of Physical Science items in TIMSS 2015 in relation to the Croatian national curriculum

In TIMSS 2015, Croatia participated with a nationally representative sample of fourth-grade students. Over the first four grades of primary school in Croatia, the school subject Nature and Society provides the basis for four science subjects (taught in higher grades of primary school): Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Geography. However, the assessed content domain of Physical Science, according to the TIMSS 2015 Assessment Frameworks, comprises topics which are represented neither in the Croatian National Curriculum nor in the National Curriculum Framework. The aim of the research was to identify the difference in the representation of the assessed content of the TIMSS Physical Science domain as compared to Physics and Chemistry topics taught in lower primary grades in Croatian schools. So as to determine the degree to which these topics are represented, we have conducted comparative analyses of TIMSS items’ content and the Croatian national curriculum, and have compared the Croatian national achievement with the international average. Out of 64 Physical Science items in TIMSS 2015, only 20 of them covered topics represented in the Croatian national curriculum. As a result, Croatian students were only familiar with the content covered by one third of the said items, whereas they were unfamiliar with the content assessed by the remaining two thirds of the Physical Science items. Based on an in-depth analysis of correct responses and deviations from the international average, this research offers recommendations regarding the methodology and content for improving the Nature and Society subject curriculum. The obtained results are also used for reprogramming the curricular content and modernizing topics covered by Chemistry and Physics in seventh and eighth grades, so as to put Croatian students on a par with their peers across the world, and so that they would be better prepared for continuing their education at the ISCED 3 level.

TIMSS Physical Science domain, Chemistry, Physics, Croatian national curriculum, fourth-grade students.

nije evidentirano