Student agency in mathematics assessment: passive targets or active agents?
ABSTRACT. Research on mathematics assessment has emphasised the power of assessment on student learning. There is no shortage of examples of exciting, innovative and often digital practices in mathematics assessment literature. Yet, less attention has been given to what role students (should) play in assessment. Students have traditionally been seen as targets of assessment, deriving from a conceptualisation of assessment as measurement. This idea is still dominant, given how strongly testing characterises mathematics assessment in many contexts. On the other hand, assessment policies have increasingly emphasised the values of ‘Assessment for Learning’ that portray students as active agents in mathematics assessment. How could the research community make sense of the changing (or stagnating) agency of students amidst these trends in mathematics assessment?
This plenary talk proposes a research agenda for understanding student agency in mathematics assessment at all levels of education. By taking a sociocultural and -political approach, this talk discusses students' (lack of) agency within the current practices and discourses of assessment. It is argued that despite changes in mathematics assessment, students largely remain as the ‘objects’ of assessment, as designed and implemented by others; student agency may remain limited despite technological developments in assessment. The talk introduces empirical evidence on assessment innovations that centre on student agency and the risks and benefits for learning mathematics therein
Students’ instrumentalizations of hints and automated feedback in their task solution process when learning mathematics with a digital curriculum resource
ABSTRACT. Automated feedback is a characteristic feature of digital curriculum resources. Recently, there has been a growing interest in students’ perspectives on feedback. Feedback is increasingly regarded as a dialogic process in which learners make sense of information from varied sources and use it to enhance the quality of their work or their learning strategies. This study aims to further contribute to the body of research on the learners’ perspective on feedback, by investigating how students make use of hints and automated feedback when learning mathematics with a digital curriculum resource. Students’ use of hints and automated feedback is analyzed through the lens of instrumental genesis. Results from a qualitative study with eight 8th-grade students show which type of hint or feedback is used at what phase for what purpose in the process of solving tasks from a widely available online curriculum resource.
Combining self-assessment and automatic-assessment – a mixed methods study
ABSTRACT. This paper introduces a digital learning environment featuring a novel assessment module that merges self-assessment and automatic-assessment. This integration is particularly notable given the limited research on combining these assessment forms. The module aims to leverage the reflective nature of self-assessment with the efficiency and objectivity of automatic-assessment, potentially enhancing learning outcomes. The paper also outlines the initial phase of a mixed-methods study designed to evaluate this combined assessment module. This study will provide a comprehensive analysis of the module's effectiveness compared to other assessment methods. Through this research, we aim to offer valuable insights into the benefits and limitations of integrating self-assessment and automatic-assessment in educational settings.
Certainty-based marking as feedback in the context of formative assessment in mathematics lessons at school
ABSTRACT. Self-reflection is an essential competence needed to adjust one's learning process. However, training is needed to develop this competence. Certainty-based marking is presented as an easy-to-integrate method of formative assessment that strengthens the accuracy of one's answers to mathematical problems. Knowing better about one's knowledge might lead to better self-reflection. An explorative study with German 5th graders will be presented in which the influence of certainty-based marking in formative assessment on mathematical performance and self-reflection in mathematics lessons was considered in an experimental-control group design. Initial findings show no significant difference between the groups in terms of mathematical performance. Regarding accuracy, the results are more evident so that students know better what they know and what they do not know over time.
Advancing assessment in fractions: designing and implementing formative proficiency tasks
ABSTRACT. While many studies have focused on the challenges students face in the domain of fractions and the corresponding pedagogies of teaching and learning, there has been inadequate and disproportionate attention dedicated to assessment resources, particularly those tailored for formative assessment in the context of fractions. This study takes a step forward in contributing new insights to this field by designing fraction proficiency tasks explicitly intended for formative assessment of students' comprehension of fractions. These fraction proficiency tasks were administered to a class of 35 fifth-grade students (ages 10–11) with mixed abilities in a primary school in Taiwan to evaluate their understanding of fractions. Findings of the study offer valuable insights into assessing students' understanding of fractions and provide a comprehensive view of the diversity in students' understanding and the extent of these differences. Implications for future studies are also presented.
Formative feedback in problem-solving lessons in German primary schools
ABSTRACT. In this article, we present initial results of the research on formative feedback, which is used by teachers in problem-solving orientated lessons in German primary schools. The analyses of five lessons on problem solving from German primary schools revealed 15 different forms of formative feedback from different levels (Hattie & Timperley, 2007) which will be exemplified. Most of the feedback forms identified relate to the task, results or process. Formative Feedback regarding the level of self-regulation could not be identified.
Enacting assessment accommodations in an inclusive formative practice: The case of color-coding
ABSTRACT. This study explores how a Special Education Teacher in Mathematics (SETM) implements the assessment accommodation of color-coding in a Parallel Support setting. SETM’s goal is to support a student with learning disabilities in a grade 8 mathematics classroom. We view formative assessment as a unified classroom practice that involves teachers’ actions and students’ responses to these actions. The results indicate that the main SETM’s actions while enacting color-coding accommodation are a) repeating and extending student’s short answers; b) asking student to justify his responses; c) evaluating and validating student’s correct responses; d) honoring student’s contribution by maintaining his mathematical idea and e) creating a positive and engaging learning environment by frequently rewarding student’s responses.
Peer assessment in an undergraduate geometry course: Fostering proof competency in teacher students
ABSTRACT. Proofs are integral to mathematics as a science, but they are difficult to learn and provide challenges for instruction. This is a particular problem in teacher education, where proofs are a topic that many students experience being disconnected from teachers’ day-to-day work in schools. In this note, we report on a course development and research project exploring the use of peer assessment as a tool to foster proof competency in pre-service teacher students.
Fostering technology-enhanced formative assessment in Euclidean geometry proving through graded peer tutoring roles
ABSTRACT. In recent years, educators and researchers have paid increasing attention to formative assessment strategies. In this paper, we explore an experimental design in which formative assessment strategies are intertwined with digital technology and graded peer tutoring within structured groups and integrated into activities aiming to overcome secondary school students’ difficulties in proving statements in Euclidean geometry. According to the design, each group is decomposed into three helping students, acting as guides at different levels, and one student needing to be guided to learn. Each helping student intervenes to activate mainly a specific assessment process in a specific phase of the activity, supported by a digital tool, in accordance with the helping role to be performed. We investigate the use of digital technology and tutoring roles in supporting agents (teacher, students, peers) to develop formative assessment strategies in teaching and learning Euclidean geometry.
Elaborated feedback for interpreting graphs in Secondary Education
ABSTRACT. Interpreting and extracting information from graphs can be challenging for secondary education students. In this study, 68 students analyzed a graph through STACK, having multiple opportunities to solve the task and request progressive feedback for arriving at the solution. Differences between low- and medium-level achievers were identified concerning the committed errors and their disposition towards feedback. Most medium achievers reported a standard error and overcame it after two hints. Low achievers who presented uncommon mistakes required at least three hints and reported difficulties in establishing connections between them as they appeared individually. We conclude that for low achievers, hints in e-assessment tools should be displayed in an accumulative way.
