Using alternative assessment strategies in Mathematics instruction

Yeo, S. M. (2008). Using journal writing and oral presentation as alternative assessment strategies in mathematics instruction: An empirical study in Singapore secondary schools (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://libris.nie.edu.sg/

Background

Traditional assessment held a narrow view of mathematics and ignored communication skills, which were generally agreed by mathematics education researchers and teachers to be crucial to learning the subject.

Aims

This study investigated how integrating communication tasks, namely (1) journal writing and (2) oral presentations, as assessment strategies in the Secondary 1 and 2 Mathematics classroom would affect students’ performance in and attitudes towards the subject.

Sample

Eight classes from two schools participated in the study. From each school, one Express and one Normal Secondary 1 class (n=157) was chosen for the intervention. One control class from the same school and stream was selected for every experimental class.

Method

The intervention lasted two years and the communication tasks were aligned with the teachers’ scheme of work to maximise integration. The control classes received normal teaching. The journal writing tasks consisted of questions that probed the students’ attitude, content knowledge, self-reflection, and reasoning. The oral presentation tasks consisted of group discussions on mathematical problems and culminated in class presentations on the solutions and the thought processes underlying them.

Pre- and post-questionnaire surveys, structured interviews, and classroom observations were used to track the students’ and teachers’ opinions on learning Mathematics generally and with the integration of communication tasks. Pre- and post-journal writing task tests were set to track the students’ aptitude at mathematical reasoning and at explaining their use of strategies in solving problems.

Findings

The effect size was larger for the experimental classes than the control classes. The questionnaires showed that the students believed that the communication tasks broadened and deepened their learning of the subject. More students found journal writing easier (more than 55% thought they wrote them well) than oral presentations.

The teachers agreed that the two activities could be used for assessment. While they considered the journals a versatile task and useful source of feedback, they found the need to read all the students’ writing and to provide feedback challenging.

Implications

The author recommended that teachers should be encouraged to use journal writing and oral presentations as alternative assessment modes in Mathematics through gradual and systematic implementation and professional training.

Original article retrieved from NIE Digital Repository.