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Assessment tools - Example:
Houston Proof-Tracking Study: From Triad to Data
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Introduction ||
Activities ||
Example Proof-Tracking Study ||
Student Survey
For our (fictional) development of a (hypothetical) study of the University of Houston Downtown algebra course, we'd selected a triad. The next step was to consider what sort of data to collect.
We kept several considerations in mind when making our plan:
- There wasn't much money or time to spend on gathering data.
- The more straightforward the data were, the more persuasive they could be (because the faculty and administrators using these findings are not trained social scientists)
- Having two or three types of data bearing on one question is more likely to provide something like the truth than relying on just one type of data (e.g., a survey).
Here are the types of data we decided to collect, grouped by their position in the triad:
I. Technology Used for the Activity?
| Technology Used for the Activity?
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Data sources
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| Graphing software on the instructor's computer? Being used? projection equipment being used by faculty to support conversation with students during class hour? Does the software seem to support added flexibility, spontaneity, adaptability to circumstance? And/or does it create new rigidity to the classroom conversation?
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Interview faculty members
Survey of students includes at least three questions about classroom conversations about the images of functions and graphs on screen
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| Graphing software on student computer in lab being used by students to explore the properties of functions and their graphs?
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Survey of students includes at least three questions about how they use the computers in the lab when doing math assignments and projects
Student assistants in the math labs will be taught how to observe and record notes on how students are using the computers to explore functions and their graphs (we think this will help them help the students too).
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| Is appropriate software, data available on or through lab computers for doing calculations that enable students to work on more complex, realistic problems than they could handle with paper and pencil? How much is it being used?
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Interview faculty
Compare the problems in sections using computers in this way with problems assigned several years ago. Show the problems to faculty teaching the courses that these students take next (without telling them which sections the problems came from) and ask them to rate the problems for realism and complexity
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On this web site, the last step we've taken in designing a study for Houston is to do a rough, partial draft of a student survey.
Introduction ||
Activities ||
Example Proof-Tracking Study ||
Student Survey
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