Trends in Mathematics Motivation and Achievement Between 1980 and 2015

• In Event: Combining International Student Assessments for Country-Level Longitudinal Analyses

Abstract

The present study expands the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) twenty-year cognitive trend scale and the more recently established (Martin et al., 2016) non-cognitive trend scales, including the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS, administered in 1980). We present the long-term trends after linking the mathematics achievement and two motivation scales at seven time points from 1980 to 2015. We explore trends in the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation with achievement as well as investigate differences in terms of culture and gender.
Results from the first twenty years of the TIMSS (Mullis, Martin, and Loveless, 2016) show that more countries have increased than decreased their mean mathematics achievement in both subjects and at both grades. Among the sixteen countries with twenty-year-trend data in eighth grade, gender differences in mathematics achievement were low in 1995, with significant differences favoring boys in four countries, and an average achievement difference of six points. Twenty years later, the average difference had decreased to two points, with three countries having significant gender differences in favor of boys and one in favor of girls (Mullis, Martin, and Loveless, 2016).
While extending these trend data, we also explore motivational trends. We refer to intrinsic motivation when individuals engage in an activity because they are interested in and enjoy the activity, while when individuals engage in activities for instrumental or other reasons, such as receiving a reward, they are extrinsically motivated (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). According to Charles et al. (2014), there is an inverse relationship between students’ attitudes toward mathematics and the economic development of their country. The authors used TIMSS data from 2003 to 2011 and the Human Development Index (HDI) for national economic development. They found that attitudes toward mathematics are significantly more negative in high HDI countries; and that this result holds for both gender but it is stronger for females.
In our analyses, which start with the 1980 SIMS data, we use data from grade eight or equivalent from countries that have participated in at least two time points (N=64). The linking procedures are performed using IRT modeling. The country-level changes are explored with a difference-in-differences analysis.The trend results show distinct patterns for different cultures and changes over time, in terms of gender differences in the outcomes in some of the countries.
Bearing in mind that the relative proportion of females choosing a mathematical track in upper secondary and higher education is still unreasonably low and unrelated to mathematics achievement in many countries, the information gained by these analyses has nevertheless potential significance. By using comparable data from four decades, our contribution may shed light on long-term processes in learning mathematics.

Authors

• Erika Majoros, University of Gothenburg

• Monica Rosen, University of Gothenburg

• Jan-Eric Gustafsson, Goteborg University