The different mathematics performances in PISA 2012 and a curricula comparison: enriching the comparison by an analysis of the role of problem solving in intended learning processes

Abstract

The results of international comparative studies like PISA and TIMSS attract researchers to conduct studies comparing math contents of curricula directly to each other. Unlike those studies, we compared math contents of Indonesian and Singaporean curricula based on math contents tested in PISA 2012 items. We also enrich the comparison with the examination of the role of problem solving in the intended learning processes of the two curricula. The results of the comparison of math contents show that there are differences in the breadth of the math contents of the two curricula. The results also indicate that the Singaporean curriculum covers math contents tested in the PISA 2012 items which are missing in the Indonesian curriculum. However, it is still difficult to identify possible reasons for the distinct performances between Indonesia and Singapore in the PISA 2012 study from the comparison. Enriching the comparison with the examination of the role of problem solving in the intended learning processes of the two curricula gives us additional insight into a possible reason. The results show that the intended learning process of the Singaporean curriculum highlights problem solving much more than does that of the Indonesian curriculum. These results are suggestive of the need for further research.