Engagement in Science Lessons and Achievement Test Scores of Eighth-Grade Students in Korea: Findings from the TIMSS 2011 Assessment

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessments have provided insights regarding student achievement and educational practices for cross-cultural settings. Several studies from the TIMSS assessments have been conducted to identify teaching practices and student characteristics that were associated with the learning outcomes of students in Korea. For instance, results from international assessments have indicated that students in Korea have scored higher than international averages in science and mathematics (Park, 2008). Data from the TIMSS 1999 assessment were used to examine relationships between school characteristics and student achievement (Myeong & Hong, 2002). Findings from the TIMSS 2007 assessment indicated that eighth-grade students in Korea earned higher test scores when they frequently worked problems on their own and engaged in activities that made connections with real-world contexts during science lessons (House, 2011). Further, students in Korea expressed higher levels of enjoyment for learning science when they designed an experiment or investigation and related what they were learning in science lessons to their daily lives (House, 2012). Previous research studies have examined teaching practices for science and mathematics in classrooms in Korea. Scientific literacy and student engagement in science are important components of the school curriculum in Korea (Choi, et al., 2011). For instance, an analysis of ninth-grade science classrooms in Korea indicated that situations which produced cognitive conflict also positively influenced changes in student understanding of concepts (Lee & Byun, 2012). Recent findings also suggested that the understanding of physical concepts in science for students in Korea was strongly influenced by cultural experiences (Nam, 2012). Further, a qualitative analysis of elementary-school classrooms in Korea indicated that the use of real-world contexts resulted in the development of interpretive creativity (Cho, et al. 2013). Consequently, research has examined a number of strategies and their relationship to science outcomes in Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student engagement in learning and science achievement test scores of eighth-grade students in Korea using data from the TIMSS 2011 assessment. This study was designed to extend findings from previous TIMSS assessments for students in Korea. In addition, this study was intended to build upon previous findings regarding teaching practices and achievement outcomes of students in Korea (House & Telese, 2013) through the assessment of the recently defined measure of student engagement in science learning (Martin & Mullis, 2013). Further, this study was developed in order to examine those relationships for a large national sample of eighth-grade students in Korea who were part of an international assessment of educational contexts and achievement outcomes. Methods Students included in this study were from the TIMSS 2011 Population 2 (eighth-grade) sample from Korea. There were 5,156 students who completed all survey items related to student engagement in science lessons. As a component of the TIMSS 2011 assessment, a scale was developed to measure student engagement in science lessons. Five items that examined student engagement in science lessons were included on this scale: (1) I know what my teacher expects me to do, (2) I think of things not related to the lesson, (3) My teacher is easy to understand, (4) I am interested in what my teacher says, and (5) My teacher gives me interesting things to do. For each of these statements, students expressed their level of agreement as: (1) Disagree a lot, (2) Disagree a little (3) Agree a little, or (4) Agree a lot. In addition, the dependent variable examined in this study was the eighth-grade science test score on the TIMSS 2011 assessment. On this achievement test, items were included to measure student knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science. …