ASSESSING LEARNING FROM MATHEMATICAL INQUIRY: CHALLENGES FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND RESEARCHERS

Inquiry approaches (e.g. open-ended questions, investigations, thought experiments) are advocated in mathematics because they engage students and suit a range of student capabilities. They also provide authentic opportunities for teamwork and co-construction of knowledge. Hence, although mathematical knowledge is essential in an inquiry approach it is not sufficient. Through practical examples, this paper will explore various types of inquiry tasks and the implications for assessment. Inquiry approaches are strongly advocated in mathematics education to provide opportunities for a diversity of learners to engage in interesting and challenging tasks (Henningsen, & Stein, 1997; Stein, Grover, & Henningsen, 1996; Sullivan, 2001). However, inquiry approaches require substantial changes to teaching and assessment (Baroody & Coslick, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to explore assessment that has been used with various types of inquiry-based tasks and to explore the assessment challenges that inquiry tasks provide for students, teachers and researchers. Inquiry-Oriented Tasks and Assessment Inquiry tasks are designed to challenge students and engage them in “doing ” mathematics. The appropriate level of challenge is important to provide adequate opportunities for learning and high level thinking and reasoning (Henningsen & Stein, 1997; Stein, Grover, & Henningsen, 1996). Challenge and inquiry ar