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Using performance assessment in secondary school mathematics: an empirical study in a Singapore classroom

Using performance assessment in secondary school mathematics: an empirical study in a Singapore classroom
Using performance assessment in secondary school mathematics: an empirical study in a Singapore classroom
This article reports an exploratory study on using performance assessment in mathematics instruction in a high-performing secondary school in Singapore. An intact mathematics class participated in the study, and received chapter-based performance tasks as intervention during regular mathematics lessons for about one and a half school years. The performance tasks used included authentic and/or open-ended tasks. The students’ academic achievements and attitudes in mathematics were compared with a comparison class that did not receive the intervention. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, mainly through questionnaire surveys, performance task tests, conventional school exams, and interviews with students and teachers. The results suggest that the students receiving the intervention performed significantly better than their counterparts in solving conventional exam problems, and in general they also showed more positive changes in attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics learning. The students from the experimental class also expressed positive views about the benefits of using performance tasks in promoting their ability in higher order thinking, though no statistically significant difference was detected between the two classes of students in solving unconventional tasks before and after intervention. Overall, the results appear to support teachers’ using contextualised problems in real life situations and open-ended investigations in students’ learning of mathematics
performance assessment, alternative assessment, mathematics teaching and learning, authentic questions, open ended questions, singapore mathematics education
2195-4372
132-152
Fan, Lianghuo
28afe582-cd04-4ddc-9acb-a12494af79e0
Zhu, Yan
3b3d06d6-c420-4611-a5bc-e3701cb83d55
Fan, Lianghuo
28afe582-cd04-4ddc-9acb-a12494af79e0
Zhu, Yan
3b3d06d6-c420-4611-a5bc-e3701cb83d55

Fan, Lianghuo and Zhu, Yan (2008) Using performance assessment in secondary school mathematics: an empirical study in a Singapore classroom. Journal of Mathematics Education, 1 (1), 132-152.

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article reports an exploratory study on using performance assessment in mathematics instruction in a high-performing secondary school in Singapore. An intact mathematics class participated in the study, and received chapter-based performance tasks as intervention during regular mathematics lessons for about one and a half school years. The performance tasks used included authentic and/or open-ended tasks. The students’ academic achievements and attitudes in mathematics were compared with a comparison class that did not receive the intervention. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, mainly through questionnaire surveys, performance task tests, conventional school exams, and interviews with students and teachers. The results suggest that the students receiving the intervention performed significantly better than their counterparts in solving conventional exam problems, and in general they also showed more positive changes in attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics learning. The students from the experimental class also expressed positive views about the benefits of using performance tasks in promoting their ability in higher order thinking, though no statistically significant difference was detected between the two classes of students in solving unconventional tasks before and after intervention. Overall, the results appear to support teachers’ using contextualised problems in real life situations and open-ended investigations in students’ learning of mathematics

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Published date: December 2008
Keywords: performance assessment, alternative assessment, mathematics teaching and learning, authentic questions, open ended questions, singapore mathematics education
Organisations: Mathematics and Science Education

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 168857
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/168857
ISSN: 2195-4372
PURE UUID: f1a9dd3d-4223-460a-8749-6bbe081c4f9d

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Date deposited: 06 Dec 2010 10:33
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:18

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Contributors

Author: Lianghuo Fan
Author: Yan Zhu

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