Erratum for the TIMSS 2006/07 Mathematics report - Trends in Year 5 mathematics achievement 1994 to 2006: New Zealand results from three cycles of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

Published December 2008, revised August 2009

Note that in the international datasets for all countries the results for the Knowing and Applying cognitive scores were inadvertently mislabelled so all data labelled Knowing actually pertain to Applying and all data labelled Applying actually pertain to Knowing data. This error has been rectified in the on-line version of this report – any written copies should have this erratum attached.

Pg. 10, para. 5 should read: In the cognitive domains, New Zealand Year 5 students achieved relatively better at tasks that required them to use their reasoning and relatively worse at questions that required demonstrating their knowledge in 2006. In 2002, New Zealand year 5 students showed a relative strength in the reasoning domain (503) and a relative weakness in the applying domain (486).

Pg. 10, Table 4 should look as follows:

 

  Table 4: Year 5 mean mathematics scores on the content and cognitive domains in 2006 

Note: Standard errors are presented in parentheses.
Content domain	Mean domain score			Cognitive domain	Mean domain score
Number	478	(2.7)		Knowing	482	(2.5)
Geometric shapes and measures	502	(2.3)		Applying	495	(2.3)
Data display	513	(2.6)		Reasoning	503	(2.8)

Pg. 10, para. 7 should read: Looking at Tables 4 and 5 together, it is important to note that the content domain where New Zealand Year 5 students show the greatest strength, data display, had the least number of questions. Similarly, the cognitive area of greatest strength, reasoning, had the least number of questions. The distribution of mathematics questions across the content domains was similar in 2006 to 2002, with a slight increase in data display questions (data in 2002) and corresponding decrease in number questions (number and patterns and relationships in 2002).

Pg. 22, para. 2 should read: In the cognitive domains, New Zealand Year 5 students demonstrated a relative strength in questions that required them to use their reasoning and were relatively worse at questions that required demonstrating their knowledge. None of the other English-speaking or high-performing countries had a pattern quite like this. Scotland’s and Australia’s students demonstrated a relative weakness in the knowing domain and a relative strength in the applying domain. In contrast, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, England and the United States all showed a relative strength in the knowing domain.

Pg. 28, Table 13 should look as follows:

 

Table 13: Year 5 mean mathematics scores on the content and cognitive domains by gender

Note:  Δ mean domain score significantly higher than other gender.    Standard errors are presented in parentheses.    Source: Exhibit 3.3 Mullis, Martin, and Foy, 2008.
Content       domain	Mean domain score					Cognitive domain	Mean domain score
	Girls		Boys				Girls		Boys
Number	474	(2.9)	482	(3.3) Δ		Knowing	482	(2.8)	482	(3.1)
Geometric Shapes & Measures	504	(2.7)	500	(2.8)		Applying	494	(2.7)	497	(2.7)
Data Display	517	(3.1) Δ	509	(3.1)		Reasoning	503	(3.2)	503	(3.2)

Pg. 46, para. 3 should read: Year 5 students continue to demonstrate relative strengths in aspects of mathematics. They tend to perform relatively better on data display questions compared to number. Students also perform relatively better on questions that involve reasoning compared to questions that assess knowledge.