Item G12 on the TIMSS 12th grade physics section, "Calculation of Mass Using Conservation of Momentum", is a question which US students scored almost last of all the countries participating in TIMSS. Only 19% of boys and 8% of our girls answered this question correctly, compared to an international average of 36%, and to 68% of Swedish boys and 52% of Swedish girls.
While American students performed better on memorization questions, they performed the worst on questions which required principles to be applied to problem solving, which suggests that computation is not stressed enough in the classroom.
Modified Thursday, November 12, 2009
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