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Second International Mathematics Study 1980

The Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) was an attempt to advance mathematics education through international comparisons of intended curricula, implemented curricula, and student achievement. Student performance was reported separately for content areas.

Background

Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) included some features that involved replication of items from the First International Mathematics Study (FIMS) to explore changes in the patterns of achievement. A scheme of matrix sampling was applied for test items with a core test and rotated tests. The student questionnaire incorporated three major areas: mathematics in school, personal perceptions on mathematics, and mathematics as a process and mathematics utility. The teacher questionnaires consisted of two attitude scales: mathematics in school and mathematics as a process.

The education systems had the choice of administering the full study, i.e., a longitudinal study, which included pretest and post-test and collection of classroom processes and teacher behavior data, or the “reduced” study, which was cross-sectional with post-test as the only cognitive measure and without classroom process data.

Target Populations

The target populations were students in the grade where the majority have attained the age of 13 years by the middle of the school year and students in the final grade of secondary education.

Participating Educational Systems

Belgium (Flemish), Belgium (French), Canada (British Columbia and Ontario), England and Wales, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, United States.
Link to the IEA website of early studies

Data - Population

The data files contain school, teacher and student levels.

Belgium (Flemish)

Belgium (French)

Canada (British Columbia)

Canada (Ontario)

England & Wales

Finland

France

Data from France. Population 1 (SPSS-files in zip archive)

Hong Kong

Hungary

Israel

Japan

Luxembourg

Data from Luxembourg. Population 1. (SPSS-files in zip archive)

Netherlands

Data from Netherlands. Population 1 (SPSS-files in zip archive)

New Zealand

Sweden

Thailand

USA

Documentation

Technical Reports

Travers, K. J. & Westbury, I. (1980). Supplement to The IEA Study of Mathematics I: Analysis of Mathematic Curricula (pdf 6.5 MB)

Wolfe, Richard G. (1987). Second IEA Mathematics Study. Training Manual for Use of the Databank of the Longitudinal, Classroom Process Surveys for Population A (pdf 4 MB)

Westbury, I. & Travers, K. J. (1990). Second International Mathematics Study. Studies.

Sampling Design

Summary of The Sampling Design (pdf)

Garden, Robert A. (1987). Second IEA Mathematics Study. Sampling Report (pdf 9 MB)

Instruments

Instrument Population A

Student Background Questionnaire. Population A (pdf)

Mathematics

Mathematics test 2 A and B, part 1 and 2 (pdf)

Mathematics test 2 A and B, part 3 (pdf)

Mathematics test 2 A and B, part 4 (pdf)

Mathematics test 2 A and B, part 5 (pdf)

Mathematics test 2 A and B, part 6 (pdf)

School Questionnaire (pdf)

Instruments mainly scanned from the Ontario version

This is a collection of scanned copies of the instrumentation used in the IEA Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) by Richard Wolfe. It comprises all the tests and questionnaires used in the Population A (grade 8) longitudinal study. Also, the achievement tests for the cross-sectional study are included; these are needed for
interpretation of the cross-sectional countries and also for the longitudinal pre-test in Japan.

The versions scanned are for the most part from Ontario, which are virtually identical to those used in New Zealand and the USA. The cross-sectional tests are from the
distribution from the Wellington centre.

Countries differed in the extra questions given to students about calculator use and individual OTL, which were usually embedded on the answer sheets.

Teacher classroom process questionnaire. Population A (pdf 14 MB)

Student pre-test questionnaire. Population A (pdf)

Student post-test questionnaire. Population A (3 MB)

School questionnaire. Population A (pdf 1 MB)

Teacher questionnaire. Population A (pdf 2 MB)

Student tests. Population A (pdf 5 MB)

Teacher OTL questionnaire. Population A (pdf)

Student X tests. Population A (pdf 1 MB)