Magyar News, 2000. szeptember-2001. augusztus (11. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2001-04-01 / 8. szám

Hungarian Students on Go Leaping towards tl)e top In the February issue of the Magyar News our readers learned about two out­standing Hungarian students. They were among the nine chosen from 10,000 appli­cants to participate in the Mars program. We have more information on the excel­lence of the students in Hungary. Boston College has an International Study Center. They launched a program measuring and comparing the knowledge of students from different countries in mathematics and in science. It is done every four years in the same schools. Hungary participates in this program that is called Third International Mathametic and Science Study, for short TIMSS. This study assessed students’ mathematics and science achievement in 38 countries at the eighth grade level. In each country approx­imately 3,500 eighth-grade students (ages 13 and 14 years old) were put to the test. TIMSS used a two-stage sampling procedure to make sure that they are deal­ing with a nationally representative sample of students. In the first stage the schools were selected. In the second stage, class­rooms were selected within each school. In both cases the selection was random. In each participating country, approximately 150 schools were chosen for the assess­ment. This brought the total to about 3,500 eighth-grade students in each country. Interesting that in science, Chinese Taipei and Singapore had the highest aver­age performance, closely followed by Hungary, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. This might underline that the Hungarians have some oriental connec­tion. Between 1995 and 1999, countries that showed a significant increase in aver­age science achievement were Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, and naturally Hungary. Bulgaria was the only country showing a significant decrease. The results indicate that eighth-grade mathematics teachers have more confidence in their teaching preparation than science teachers. Generally, mathe­matics teachers reported relatively high levels of confidence in their preparation, with 63 percent of students on average taught by teachers who believed they were very well prepared. At least a dozen nations still outper­form the United States on the latest round of international math and science tests given to eighth-graders. The scores, show U.S. middle-schoolers inching up two points in science: 10 points in math in the last four years. But we still are largely out­performed by children in industrialized Asian and European nations. Results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study show U.S. students scored only 515 points on the sci­ence portion of the exam, compared to Hungary's leading 552 points, Japan 's 550, and Russia's 529. In math, the U,S. scored an average of 502. Singapore's 604. Connecticut students generally score at or near the top on the National Assessment of Educational Progress given periodically in the U.S. Thomas Murphy, a spokesman for the state Department of Education said: “Connecticut outperforms the nation in reading, math and writing but we have to keep our eyes on the perform­ance of students internationally." The international test was organized by the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement. Of 38 participating nations, U.S. students scored on par with countries like Bulgaria, Latvia and New Zealand. Average scores hovered around 500 for both math and sci­ence. More than 100,000 children, including 9,072 from the United States, were picked randomly from each nation's eighth­­graders and were tested in their primary language of instruction. TIMSS 1999 used a matrix sampling technique to achieve broad coverage - the total of 308 items were systematically distributed across 8 test booklets and the booklets were distributed randomly to students. • Each student completed one 90- minute test booklet. • In each book altogether, there were 162 mathematics items and 146 science items • Approximately one-third of the items were constructed-response format, and the remaining items were multiple­­choice. We are happy to report on the achieve­ments of Hungarian students competing in the world. The Hungarian educational sys­tem was always known to do an outstand­ing job. The grounds established by this system made it possible to have an above average number of Nobel Prize Laureates, inventors and internationally appreciated scientists. We hope that the distortions, under the Communist rule, in history, liter­ature, and social sciences will all be cor­rected. AUDI wants tpe students Recently we learned from Tamás Kiss that AUDI Hungária is set to search local schools to find new recruits who can be trained by the company itself in an innovative new program. AUDI is currently the biggest employ­er with about 5,000 staff in the region of Győr and was established as a greenfield investment in 1993, bringing the latest pro­duction line technology to the country. With such rapid development in the indus­try, traditional technical training was no longer enough. AUDI had been financially supporting local schools in Győr with cer­tain cooperation projects. Last year AUDI recorded outstanding production figures in Hungary. It produced more than 1.06 million engines, and 56,776 vehicles. The AUDI Group posted sales revenues of $18.7 billion, as com­pared to $13.9 billion in 1999. Its capital investment last year was up $481 million to total $1.9 billion as compared to $1.3 billion in 1999. The company has teamed up with the local technical high school, Lukács Sándor Szakképző Iskola, in a special cooperation agreement investing $352,000 this year to run a program of practical apprenticeships for students. The AUDI company had taken a handful of the school’s teachers to the plant. There they saw what the require­ments are and from there on they have a better understanding on how to select their pupils. Audi’s HQ in Germany, Ingolstadt, and, upon their return, jointly worked out a long-term training program. One of the students, Zsolt Bogár, 19, in his final year at the school, has spent his first week in the AUDI program and said, "I like what we see and learn here," while carrying out maintenance work on a prac­tice motor. Students will spend 25% of their edu­cational time at the Audi plant. Each one would be provided with working clothes, a hot lunch and some "pocket money". Teacpers pelp spape t(?e future Graphisoft NV of Budapest became the world's third-largest maker of comput­er-design software used by architects after Gábor Bojár, a former professor, started the company in 1982 by pawning his Wive's jewelry for $5,000. The .company became the first soft­­warer firm in Eastern Europe to issue shares to the public last June. “Hungary's strong tradition in mathe­matics helped, to propel the company's success. The level of mathematical educa­tion in the secondary schools is still much higher than in the West." Mr. Bojar said from his headquarters in Graphisoft Park, a new officecomplex for high-tech firms, that has been tauted as a miniture Silicon Valley. Page 3

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