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What Can Be Learned from the Survey of Mathematics and Science Opportunities (SMSO)?
Pages 9-13

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From page 9...
... Prorn~nent dimensions in curriculum include the number oftopics to be covered each year, topic sequence, topic development, and depth and breadth of the cumculum. When they considered the number of topics to be covered, SMSO researchers found that some countnes, such as Japan, and Spain, aim for a smaller number of mathematics topics each year and that, in contrast, Norway, France, and the United States cover many more mathematics topics per i9Robitaille, D., Schmidt, W., Raizen, S., McKnight, C., Britton, E., Nicol, C
From page 10...
... occupies 20% of the space in French texts as compared to 2% of the space in Swiss texts and 8% of the space in Norwegian texts. These differences in emphasis and coverage between simple and complex topics suggest substantial differences in performance expectations across the six countries.
From page 11...
... 2~ the United States, the textbook industry is largely market-~ven, but ~ states where textbook me approved for a state adoption list from which districts may choose, there exist both formal and informal scope and sequence requirements as well as informal pressure on publishers to meet state curricular guidelines.
From page 12...
... In order to develop instruments sensitive enough to study teaching across cultural contexts, SMSO researchers devised a framework to guide examination of a few lessons in each country. The framework elements were content complexity and representation, content presentation, and classroom discourse.
From page 13...
... In the judgment of the SMSO research team, the Norwegian teachers sought to engage students in learning activities in both individual and small group work in ways that seemed more child-centered than what was observed in the other countries. Compared to the French and Spanish teachers observed, the Norwegian teachers also spent less time lecturing.


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