Profile of Chilean Achievement in the TIMSS 1999 Data Representation Sub-Scale

Abstract

For the first time, Chile participated in IEA’s Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 1999), testing a nationally representative sample of 5907 eighth graders, and collecting vast background information about the students, their teachers and their schools. This article analyzes student’s achievement in data representation, the sub-scale that showed the best relative math results for Chile. The effect of five item-related variables was analyzed: format, cognitive skill, sub-content area, curricular intentions, and curricular implementation. Conclusions indicate that the better performance in data representation can be mainly explained because of a “street mathematics” phenomenon combined with an item-format effect.