Intel Corp., working with LessonLabs Inc., has just released a professional development package that includes demonstration videos showing instructional techniques typical in Japan, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, three of six countries that outscored the United States on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The Intel package is based on findings derived from TIMSS, and algebra is the subject taught in the demonstration videos.

The study, called "Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the Third International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) 1999 Video Study," summarizes the teaching practices of 638 teachers from Australia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States.

Because these six other nations all outperformed the U.S. on previous TIMSS mathematics tests, researchers wanted to find out what American teachers could do to improve their results.

"This study allows us to learn from those countries whose students excel in mathematics," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "We know that our current practices have not achieved the success we demand. So, we've asked experts to review the teaching practices of high-achieving countries to inform our teachers and staff in our teacher preparation programs how to improve U.S. teaching practices."

In each case, a teacher was videotaped for one complete lesson, and in each country, videotapes were collected across the school year to capture the range of topics and activities that can take place throughout an entire year.

After systematically analyzing data collected from thousands of hours of videotaped lessons, researchers found that teachers from high-achieving countries do not use a single common method for teaching mathematics.

They also found teaching practices in the United States differ remarkably from the way mathematics is taught in high-performing countries.

In 1995, researchers conducted a similar study of math lessons from three countries: Germany, Japan, and the United States. After this study, researchers concluded that because Japan had a unique teaching style and scored the highest on the TIMMS, all teachers should teach like Japanese teachers.

However, the 1999 study concludes that there is no single method of teaching mathematics among high-achieving countries. The 1999 study was expanded to include eighth-grade mathematics and science lessons from seven countries. (Germany was not included because it did not perform better than the U.S. on the TIMMS.)

"All teaching in the different countries is unique," said Jim Stigler, co-director of the TIMMS Video Study and chief executive of LessonLab Inc. Teaching practices are a reflection of culture, and each country—including the U.S.—has a distinct national style, he explained.

"We found that there isn't one feature that all high-achieving countries take," Stigler said, which could end age-old debates on what should be emphasized in teaching: procedural versus conceptual understanding? Teacher-centered versus student-centered?