JAPANESE MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM OUTCOMES

This study was designed to determine the perceptions of five concerned groups about the outcomes for the elementary school mathematics curri culum in Japan. The outcomes and a Likert-type scale were submitted to the following concerned groups: (a) elementary school mathematics tea chers; (b) elementary school principals; (c) mathematics educators; (d ) professors of education; and (e) scientists, mathematicians, and eng ineers. The list of outcomes contained 71 statements of outcomes expec ted to result from the study of mathematics. These were based on the f our major headings of (a) general skills; (b) attitude, interests, and appreciations; (c) knowledge; and (d) intellectual abilities and skil ls. The ordinal ranks were determined by mean ratings of each outcome for each group. Nine outcomes were ranked by all concerned groups in t he first quartile. Twenty-three other outcomes were ranked by one or m ore concerned groups in the first quartile. The correlation of percept ions between each pair of the concerned groups ranged from .70 to .86. The highest correlation was between teachers and principals, whereas the lowest was between mathematics educators and professors of educati on.