Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association
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Educational Research & Development Journal
Vol 13, No 1 (2010)
An International Perspective on Sixth Grade Mathematics Final Exams between Beijing and New York |
| Ye Sun, Shuhua An, Zhonghe Wu, Xia Li |
Abstract |
| This study compared sixth grade final exams between Beijing and New York in terms of the distribution of types of questions and mathematics content of questions according to NCTM content standards. We used qualitative methods for a document analysis of secondary data sources. Some commonalities, as well as differences, were revealed from these two exams. We found that both exams covered number and operation, algebra, and measurement in their sixth grade mathematics final exams. We also found that the New York exam covered more mathematic topics than the Beijing exam. The Beijing exam focused heavily on number and operations; around 75.5% questions were related to number and operations. In terms of distribution of question types, we found that 71.4% of the New York final exam was multiple-choice questions. Only 18.3% of the Beijing exam was multiple-choice questions. The Beijing exam incorporated more open-ended questions, which demanded more mathematical thinking skills. Possible reasons that contributed to the differences were also discussed. |
| Full Text: PDF |
ISSN: 1526-8659