Case Study of Implementation of Formative Peer Assessment in Inquiry Based Elementary Mathematics

Author(s):

Iva Stuchlíková(submitting)Iva Žlábková(presenting)Alena Hošpesová Jana Kouřilová Yvona Mazehóová

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

09. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 01 B, Formative Assessments in Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

13:15-14:45

Room:

328. [Main]

Chair:

Jana Poláchová Vaštatková

Contribution

Implementation of formative assessment into everyday teaching process faces many difficulties. Frequently mentioned obstacle is a lack of appropriate support for teachers. This phenomenon was observed in many countries (Bernholt et al., 2013; Brown, 2004). In the Czech Republic, there is moreover scarce literature focused on formative assessment practice (c.f. Zlabkova, Rokos, 2013; Laufková, Novotná, 2014). Peer assessment is rather promising but on the other hand rather challenging method of assessment in inquiry based lessons in mathematics.

Project ASSIST-ME (Assess Inquiry in Science, Technology and Mathematics Education) is a research project focused on using formative and summative assessment methods to support and to improve inquiry-based lessons during science, technology and mathematics education. Within ASSIST-ME project, local working groups (LWG) of teachers and researchers investigate conditions for implementation of formative peer assessment during inquiry lessons of integrated science, biology and mathematics. The first of total three rounds of experimentation aiming at specifying optimal support for teachers and students and on development of proper tools provided data especially on teachers’ and students’ opinions and needs. Aim of this paper is to present collected data in a case study format and investigate relation of teachers’ subjective theory of formative assessment to their practice of its implementation in inquiry based mathematics lessons with four graders.

Method

The elementary mathematics local working group (LWG consisted of 6 teachers and 5 researchers) worked within a teaching unit of big numbers and developed and realized a sequence of 6 inquiry based tasks, mostly in two hours blocks. Two elementary teachers from the LWG taught these tasks in their two classes, working with 45 students altogether. The students worked with different models of big numbers and used them for representation of material, numerical and geometrical objects. The students were prompted for formative peer and self-assessment by working sheets, group assessment and whole class discussions. The lessons were video recorded, students dialogs were audio recorded, and after each lesson the teachers reflected upon the realization of the lesson. Before the experiment and after its end we used The Struktur Lege Technik (SLT, Schelle, 1992), structured interview which enables to uncover the teachers’ subjective theory of formative assessment in IBE. Besides that, we used several psychological methods to reflect upon the prospective changes in students’ attitudes to and competence in mathematics. After the end of the whole experiment, the local working group discussed the implementation of formative assessment and especially newly acquired experience with peer assessment. Data were analysed in a qualitative manner, case study was used as a general framework.

Expected Outcomes

The reflective interviews with teachers after the realization of particular lessons showed that the peer assessment during the inquiry based tasks in mathematics is rather difficult and challenging for all, teacher and students. The main problems which were identified by the teachers were time and resources demands (working sheets, assessment tools, teacher assistant time etc.). Teachers would recommend developing simpler tasks of shorter duration and simpler and more structured tools for providing peer feedback. The research has also revealed that it is very important to deeper develop the understanding of teaching goals, and esp. the role of formative assessment within them. The Struktur Lege Technik helped to delineate the key issues that the teachers considered about formative assessment before and after the experiment. It revealed their worries about their own capability to facilitate students’ peer assessment, expectations of prospective positive outcomes and also showed how they perceive formative assessment in the structure of their teaching goals. The results indicate that the teachers need time to develop deeper understanding of the role of formative peer assessment in inquiry based instructions and need also support for its implementation into classroom practice. The subjective theory of formative assessment exploration has turned out to be a good tool not only for investigation of the teachers’ perspective on implementation of formative assessment, but also for teachers’ preparation for a facilitating the students’ practice.

References

Bernholt, S., Rönnebeck, S., Ropohl, M., Köller, O., Parchmann, I. (2013). National reports of partner countries reviewing research on formative and summative assessment in their countries. Kiel: Leibniz-Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN). Brown, G. T. L. (2004). Teachers' conceptions of assessment: implications for policy and professional development. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 11, 301–318. Laufková, V., Novotná, K. (2014). Školní hodnocení z pohledu žáků. Orbis scholae, 8, 111–127. Scheele, B. (Ed.) (1992): Struktur-Lege-Verfahren als Dialog-Konsens-Methodik. Münster. Zlabkova, I., Rokos, L. (2013). Pohledy na formativní a sumativní hodnocení žáka v českých publikacích. Pedagogika, LXIII, No. 3, 328–354.

Author Information

Iva Stuchlíková (submitting)

University of South Bohemia

Ceske Budějovice

Iva Žlábková (presenting)

University of South Bohemia

Department of Pedagogy and Psychology at the Faculty of Education

České Budějovice

Alena Hošpesová

University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic

Jana Kouřilová

University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic

Yvona Mazehóová

University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic

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