فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of key characteristics of the educational systems of Iran, the United States, Finland, and Singapore using data from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in science education. Except for Iran, the countries were selected based on their high rankings in the TIMSS assessment. First, the relevant data were extracted, and several curriculum features—such as assessment methods, instructional content, and Earth science topics—were examined. The data were analyzed through clustering techniques to identify the structural similarities and differences among the educational systems. The findings indicate that the science curriculum in Iran, Finland, and Singapore is centrally administered, while in the United States, curriculum decisions are made at the state level. Regarding assessment practices, Singapore employs strict standards that promote deeper learning, whereas evaluation methods in Iran, Finland, and the United States are more flexible. However, Iran’s system emphasizes rote memorization, while those of Singapore, Finland, and the United States prioritize critical thinking. Considering the diverse and reasoning-oriented nature of the TIMSS questions, this difference may explain Iran’s relatively lower performance compared to the other three countries. Furthermore, the Earth science content in Finland and Singapore shows considerable similarity, whereas Iran’s content shares more commonalities with that of the United States.