Abstract:
This study is a secondary data analysis of the Trends
in Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMSS) to determine
if there is a gender bias, unbalanced number of items
suited to the cognitive skill of one gender, and to compare
performance by location. Results of the Grade 8, math
portion of the test were examined.
Items were coded as verbal, spatial, verbal /spatial or
neither and as conventional or unconventional. A Kruskal-
Wallis was completed for each category, comparing
performance of students from Ontario, Quebec, and
Singapore. A Factor Analysis was completed to determine if
there were item categories with similar characteristics.
Gender differences favouring males were found in the
verbal conventional category for Canadian students and in
the spatial conventional category for students in Quebec.
The greatest differences were by location, as students in
Singapore outperformed students from Canada in all areas
except for the spatial unconventional category. Finally,
whether an item is conventional or unconventional is more
important than whether the item is verbal or spatial.
Results show the importance of fair assessment for the
genders in both the classroom and on standardized tests.
