@inbook{
author = "Милинковић, Јасмина and Марушић Јаблановић, Милица and Дабић Боричић, Милана",
year = "2017",
abstract = "The purpose of this paper is to describe mathematics achievement of grade 4 students in Serbia, based on TIMSS
2015 results, as well as to compare it to the achievement obtained in TIMSS 2011. The achievement in TIMSS
2015 is significantly above the scale average and it is higher than the achievement of many European countries
with better socioeconomic status. Therefore, Serbian student achievement can be considered satisfactory. The
achievement was observed in the first place with regard to four international benchmarks defined by this study:
advanced, high, intermediate and low. A satisfactory percent of students achieve an advanced benchmark, and
by this criterion, our country takes better position than majority of countries participating in TIMSS. On the other
hand, a relatively large number of students in Serbia do not reach even the low reference value, and in this sense,
we can consider the education system not efficient enogh. Hereinafter, student achievement in mathematics
was observed according to the cognitive domains: knowing, applying, and reasoning. The results suggest that
there is a relative unevenness among students in Serbia with regard to their achievement in three cognitive
domains – unexpectedly, students are more successful in applying than in knowing domain. Also, students made
progress in the applying domain in comparison with the previous TIMSS cycle. Regarding content domains, in
geometric shapes and measures student achievement is lower than the achievement in other two domains –
number and data display. Achievement in the geometric shapes and measures field is considerably worse than
that of the countries which had an equal overall achievement in mathematics. Also, relatively high student
achievement in performing operations with whole numbers, odd and even numbers knowledge, determining
unknown numbers or operations, stood out; at the same time, low achievement was made in calculating the
surface area of geometric figures as well as in subdomain point, line, and angle. The matching of TIMSS items
and Serbian mathematics curriculum was analyzed. We have noticed that in our curriculum for grades 1 to
4 data display does not exist as a defined topic. Also, in geometry domain, the focus differs in comparison
with the item contents in TIMSS. The content that refers to the development of visual perception of space is
either missing or it is not given enough attention in school curriculum. It was also noticed that in comparison
with the ratio of geometry shapes and measures items in TIMSS tests, our curriculum from the first to the fourth
grade considers these areas less. When the achievement of Serbia in TIMSS 2011 and 2015 is compared, we
notice considerable progress within applying and data display domains. This progress has been interpreted as
the consequence of teaching practice change, TIMSS and other international studies popularization, changes
made in the textbooks, and the introduction of the standards for end of the elementary education. Finally,
on the basis of the discussion, certain recommendations for improving mathematics teaching were made,
primarily, those concerning a possible improvement of the curriculum.",
publisher = "Београд : Институт за педагошка истраживања",
journal = "TIMSS 2015 у Србији : међународног истраживања постигнућа ученика 4. разреда основне школе из математике и природних наука",
booktitle = "Постигнуће ученика из математике: главни налази, трендови и наставни програм, Student achievment in mathematics: main results, trends, and curriculum",
pages = "49-27",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_ipir_614"
}
