[Nasional-e] Curriculum cuts + simplified explanations = plummeting math ability

[Ambon]

Curriculum cuts + simplified explanations = plummeting math ability

The Asahi Shimbun

In a worrying indication of declining scholastic abilities, scores by
elementary school pupils plummeted an average 10.7 percentage points on a
mathematics test from marks 20 years ago.
The test was conducted to ascertain the effect of recent cuts in curriculum
content and simplified textbook explanations.
The test, conducted between February and March by the University of Tokyo's
Center for Clinical Research on School, also found the ratio of slow
learners increased during the same time period.
``The test results prove there has been a drop in scholastic ability,'' said
Hiroaki Mimizuka, a professor of education at Ochanomizu University who was
involved in the survey.
Researchers set a 129-question math test for 6,228 first- to sixth-grade
pupils at 17 public elementary schools in Tokyo and three neighboring
prefectures.
The test comprised the same questions set by the former National Institute
for Educational Research in a similar survey of 5,082 elementary school
pupils from 30 schools in 1982.
All 17 of the schools surveyed this year were included in the 1982 survey.
The average ratio of correct answers fell from 75.2 percent in 1982 to 64.5
percent in 2002, the survey found.
For sixth-graders, the ratio of students who gave correct answers was lower
than in 1982 for 109 of the 129 questions.
For example, to the question, ``What is the simplest ratio in whole numbers
for : ?'' only 39.4 percent of sixth-graders gave the correct answer of
10:9.
In 1982, however, 53.8 percent answered this question correctly.
Of the 129 questions on the test, 31 involved mathematical logic that has
either been dropped from the curriculum this year or is now taught in only a
simplified form.
But the average ratio of correct answers also fell for the remaining 98
questions, which involve logic covered in the current curriculum.
The researchers also calculated the ratio of fast and slow learners by
comparing each pupil's score with the average score of pupils in one grade
above and one grade below.
In all six grades, the ratio of slow learners increased compared with 1982
levels.
In the worst case, the percentage of slow learners in the fifth grade jumped
from 13.1 percent in 1982 to 20 percent in 2002.
``We must pay attention not only to the drop in ability but also to the
growing gap,'' Mimizuka said.
``Measures should be considered to support underachievers and their
families.''(IHT/Asahi: September 24,2002)
(09/24)