Students assessment in 2nd grade mathematics study materials

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine how different book series support teacher in the pupil assessment. The focus of the study was on the demand of many-sidedness and continuity of assessment expressed in the curriculum. All materials in three different book series made for 2nd grade were analyzed. All the assessment instructions were collected from the materials and they were quantitatively examined based on their amount and location. The instructions were divided in two groups based on qualitative analysis: hands-on instructions and pedagogical instructions. Based on results Finnish textbook series follow well the concrete aims set out in the curriculum (Opetushallitus, 2004). Instead it is not so straightforward to interpret many-sidedness and continuity because the concepts can be defined in many ways. However, it can be noted that the assessment emphasizes one-sided traditional assessment: teacher gives the assessment, the aim of the assessment is to collect information, the target of the assessment is the learning result, and the method for assessment is quantitative tests. Newer forms of assessment could be found from the researched materials but they didn’t appear very systematically. When researching the continuity of the assessment it was found out that the materials guided teachers to make assessments several times during the semester. The assessment was suggested to perform at the end of the study module. The materials didn’t guide systematically to assess during the study module. FULL TEXT IN FINNISH

Keywords

• mathematics
• assessment
• teaching materials
• primary school