Brown Bag Teaching/Learning Seminar #1
TIMMS

The Brown Bags for the year are off to a late but zippy start. Thanks to Jack Beal and Nathalie Gehrke in the College of Education, we will be watching and discussing one of the TIMMS videotapes. "What's that?" you say. Well, in the words of the official release:

With 45 countries participating, five grades assessed in two school subjects, and approximately one million students tested in 31 languages, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and most ambitious study of educational achievement ever undertaken. TIMSS includes more countries, more students in more grade levels, and more ambitious aims for subject matter coverage and valid testing approaches than any previous international comparative study in education.

For more details, you can check out their website: http://wwwcsteep.bc.edu/timss. From our point of view, the most interesting feature is that one of the things they released is a series of videotapes of eighth grade classes in Japan, Germany and the U.S., with the former two dubbed in English. They have generated a great deal of discussion worldwide since their release nearly a year ago, and I hope the one I have borrowed will generate a great deal of discussion math-lounge-wide on Thursday.

We will meet at noon on Thursday, October 23 in the Math Lounge.

Note for newcomers: the Brown Bags are scheduled straddling a class hour so that no one will be totally excluded by a single class. By the same token, it is not merely socially acceptable, but expected that some people will slip in late after a 11:30 class. Just avoid colliding with people slipping out early for a 12:30.


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