A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum

Abstract This study statistically investigates the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science, focusing on the learning content. The study used the TIMSS 2011 Grade 4 Curriculum Questionnaire data as a major source for the learning content prescribed at the national leve...

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Main Authors: Kenji Matsubara, Yasuhito Hagiwara, Yuji Saruta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2016-08-01
Series:Large-scale Assessments in Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40536-016-0028-0
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spelling doaj-7cc353811871458d8dbde36441887c9f2020-11-25T00:51:37ZengSpringerOpenLarge-scale Assessments in Education2196-07392016-08-014111810.1186/s40536-016-0028-0A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculumKenji Matsubara0Yasuhito Hagiwara1Yuji Saruta2National Institute for Educational Policy ResearchNational Institute for Educational Policy ResearchKokugakuin UniversityAbstract This study statistically investigates the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science, focusing on the learning content. The study used the TIMSS 2011 Grade 4 Curriculum Questionnaire data as a major source for the learning content prescribed at the national level. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the extent to which a topic area was covered, as compared to the average among the 59 TIMSS 2011 participating countries. The study revealed that the topic areas of “Human Health” and “Changes in Environments,” both in the life science domain, showed statistically less coverage in the Japanese primary science curriculum when compared to the international average. Furthermore, in discussion, the study relates the characteristics found in the intended curriculum to those in the attained curriculum, examining the percent correct statistics for relevant items from the science assessment. Based on these findings, the study proposes two recommendations for revision of the Japanese primary science curriculum.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40536-016-0028-0Curriculum revisionTIMSSCurriculum QuestionnaireJapanese primary science curriculumCT-CM modelBayesian analysis
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kenji Matsubara
Yasuhito Hagiwara
Yuji Saruta
spellingShingle Kenji Matsubara
Yasuhito Hagiwara
Yuji Saruta
A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
Large-scale Assessments in Education
Curriculum revision
TIMSS
Curriculum Questionnaire
Japanese primary science curriculum
CT-CM model
Bayesian analysis
author_facet Kenji Matsubara
Yasuhito Hagiwara
Yuji Saruta
author_sort Kenji Matsubara
title A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
title_short A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
title_full A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
title_fullStr A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
title_full_unstemmed A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
title_sort statistical analysis of the characteristics of the intended curriculum for japanese primary science and its relationship to the attained curriculum
publisher SpringerOpen
series Large-scale Assessments in Education
issn 2196-0739
publishDate 2016-08-01
description Abstract This study statistically investigates the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science, focusing on the learning content. The study used the TIMSS 2011 Grade 4 Curriculum Questionnaire data as a major source for the learning content prescribed at the national level. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the extent to which a topic area was covered, as compared to the average among the 59 TIMSS 2011 participating countries. The study revealed that the topic areas of “Human Health” and “Changes in Environments,” both in the life science domain, showed statistically less coverage in the Japanese primary science curriculum when compared to the international average. Furthermore, in discussion, the study relates the characteristics found in the intended curriculum to those in the attained curriculum, examining the percent correct statistics for relevant items from the science assessment. Based on these findings, the study proposes two recommendations for revision of the Japanese primary science curriculum.
topic Curriculum revision
TIMSS
Curriculum Questionnaire
Japanese primary science curriculum
CT-CM model
Bayesian analysis
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40536-016-0028-0
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