Mathematics Classrooms in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States

Observations were conducted in Chinese, Japanese, and American classrooms during mathematics classes. Activities in 20 representative classrooms were observed in each of 2 grades (1 and 5) and in each country. Some observations focused on individual children and others on the teachers. Large cross-cultural differences were found in many variables related to classroom structure and management. These differences paralleled differences in achievement in mathematics among the 3 countries. A number of these variables also were significantly related to average level of mathematics achievement within the American classrooms.