scholarly journals ASSESSMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUTTA CORNELIA REUWSAAT JUSTO ◽  
EDNEI LUÍS BECHER ◽  
MARJA VAN DEN HEUVEL-PANHUIZEN ◽  
MICHIEL VELDHUIS

ABSTRACT: In this study, we aimed to gain further knowledge about Brazilian primary school teachers' assessment practices and beliefs in mathematics education. For this, we carried out an analysis of curriculum documents and reviewed recent research literature on assessment in Brazil, permitting us to answer the following research question: How are the mathematics assessment practices and teachers' beliefs, as revealed in recent research, and how are these related to the conceptualization of assessment in Brazilian mathematics curriculum documents? We found that teachers' assessment practices, as described in the reviewed research between 2010 and 2017, did, in general, not reflect the conceptualization of assessment in the curriculum documents. Furthermore, despite that the beliefs of most teachers on assessment reflected it to be a process to improve teaching and learning, their mathematics assessment practices did not favor assessment for learning. Still, they were mostly used as an instrument to determine students' classification. We recommend a public policy in which teachers are offered opportunities for professional development, focusing on formative assessment in mathematics education.

Author(s):  
Nathalie Sayac ◽  
Michiel Veldhuis

Abstract We investigated French primary school teachers’ assessment practice in mathematics. Using an online questionnaire on teachers’ background, teaching, and grading practice, we were able to determine assessment profiles of 604 primary school teachers. As evidenced by the teachers’ scores on the latent factors Assessment purposes, Assessment practices, and Differentiation, teachers with the profile of Enthusiastic assessors view assessment as more useful and use it more often to adapt their instruction than teachers with the profile of Unenthusiastic assessors. This can be useful for practice and sheds more light on French teachers’ assessment practices in mathematics. It is also interesting to compare the results of this survey with those from China and the Netherlands, as the differences reflect different assessment cultures and may shed light on some of the results of international large-scale assessments such as PISA.


This study was carried out to identify the administrative role performances of headmasters of primary schools in Ebonyi state, southeast Nigeria. The study also identified the challenges faced the headmasters in performing their roles and strategies for handling these challenges. Three research questions were developed in line with the purpose of the study. Three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study is 1471 headmasters and 10,188 teachers, and the sample comprised 150 headmasters and 1000 primary school teachers from the area of study. This sample was drawn using multi-stage sampling technique. A–21 item instrument termed “Headmasters’ Administrative Role Performance Assessment Questionnaire” (HARPAQ) was used by the researcher for data collection. The instrument was first validated by experts and reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha Statistics and the reliability got was 0.85. The administration and retrieval of instrument were through direct contact and use of research assistants with the respondents. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation for the research question while z-test statistics were used for testing the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that all the 21 items were accepted by the respondents. Findings on the hypotheses tested revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean responses of headmasters and primary school teachers from Ebonyi state on the items presented. Adequate funding, prudency and accountability in fund management, regular leadership training of headmasters, formation of formidable umbrella union for the headmasters to always interact with government on issues of school funding and management, involving the PTA and community in school management among others were recommended.


Author(s):  
Hamidreza Kashefi ◽  
Zaleha Ismail ◽  
Fariba Mirzaei ◽  
Chan Choon Tak ◽  
Sharifah Nasriah Wan Obeng ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maisie L. Gholson ◽  
Charles E. Wilkes

This chapter reviews two strands of identity-based research in mathematics education related to Black children, exemplified by Martin (2000) and Nasir (2002). Identity-based research in mathematics education is a burgeoning field that is disrupting narratives around the meanings of mathematical competence and brilliance. We argue that the identities of Black children as doers and knowers of mathematics are often confused (or mistaken) with stereotypical images of various social identities, as well as wrongly confiscated (or mis-taken), in order to perpetuate persistent narratives of inferiority, criminality, and general ineducability of these children. We use Black children as a particular example within the mathematics education research literature and argue that children within a so-called “collective Black” are subject to the same racial scripts that organize mathematics teaching and learning. While we acknowledge that important lines of identity-based research have emerged to reclaim the rightful identities of Black children and those within the collective Black, we conclude with a critique of this recent literature in which we note the troubling exclusion of girls and young children.


Author(s):  
Ray Pörn ◽  
Kirsti Hemmi ◽  
Paula Kallio-Kujala

There is limited research on teaching and learning of programming in primary school and even less about aspects concerning teaching programming from teachers’ viewpoint. In this study, we explore how Finnish 1-6 primary school teachers (N=91), teaching at schools with Swedish as the language of instruction, relate to programming and teaching of programming, one year after the introduction of the new national curriculum that included programming. The teachers’ relation to programming is studied by analyzing their view on programming, perceived preparedness to teach programming and their attitudes towards teaching programming. The main results of the present study are that the responding teachers approach programming in school with mixed emotions, but the majority claim to have sufficient preparedness to teach programming, and many of them have a positive attitude towards the subject. The findings indicate that the most important factor for high perceived preparedness and positive attitude is sufficient domain knowledge. The teachers’ views on programming are very diverse, ranging from focusing only on the connection to elementary step-by-step thinking to more sophisticated reasoning connecting to central aspects of computational thinking and other educational outcomes. The findings suggest that there is a need for educational efforts to make the connection between mathematical content and programming more visible for primary school teachers.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (24) ◽  
pp. 3186
Author(s):  
María José Seckel ◽  
Adriana Breda ◽  
Vicenç Font ◽  
Claudia Vásquez

Learning about the conceptions used by primary school teachers towards the use of robotics in class is essential as the first step towards its application in the classroom. Therefore, with the purpose of describing the understanding applied when teaching and learning mathematics use educational robots, research was conducted by means of mixed methods using a descriptive design by survey. Such research consisted of closed questions (Likert-type scale from 1 to 5) and open questions, given to 83 primary school teachers who currently teach students in the first years of school (First to Fourth grade) in two Chilean districts. The results showed that in general, there is a positive predisposition towards the addition of robots in the learning and teaching of mathematic processes during the first years of school, even though teachers claim there is a struggle to incorporate robots in their lessons due to the high number of students and the reduced space in their classrooms.


Author(s):  
Lawal Abdul Faragai

This paper is a conceptual approach that stimulate able scholars that failed to ponder carefully on dual-role conflict among female primary school teachers. Of course, female primary school teachers are experiencing dual-role conflict. Also, presently female primary school teachers has dominated our primary schools teaching our children, on the same vain experiencing dual-role conflict which needed urgent attention from all stakeholders. The essence of this paper was due to the relevance of work and family matters. Scholars are really trying their best for enlightening all stakeholders on the issue of work-family role conflict in many discipline. In Education, related researches are always carrying on but the background level of education primary school is somehow been put aside with little concern. Considering this will help in making the work-life balance of female primary school teachers more sustainable. With this teaching and learning of our younger children would be efficient and effective. The researcher has proposed a conceptual framework in studying dual-role conflict among female primary school teachers. However, the qualitative interpretivist approach using case study or grounded theory would be applicable in conducting such type of research respectively.


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