Gymnasieelevers upplevelser av formativ bedömning i matematik

The investigation aims to study high school students' awareness of their own learning inmathematics when the teacher works with formative assessment. This is a method used topromote students’ learning and is based on a three step process: first to establish where thelearners are in their learning, then to establish where they are going and finally to establishwhat needs to be done to get them there. These steps usually take place simultaneously, andcontinuous help from the teacher is necessary for the students to be certain of his location.Assessment matrices can be used to illustrate for the student where they are located, and toprovide a way for them to see what needs to be done to reach the next grading level.A case study was conducted in a secondary school where four students and their teacher inmathematics was interviewed. In order to get an extended image of the discourse ofassessment that takes place in the classroom, two observations were performed. In addition,material on assessment and grading and a test with accompanying assessment and thestudents' reflections were studied, to create a more tangible image of what the students andteacher talk about during the interviews.The results regarding the students' perception in relation to the assessment of the teacher(Anna) can be concluded as follows:* The students believe their ability to express themselves mathematically is one of themain parts of assessment. This is confirmed by the teacher, who believes that studentsare generally good at expressing themselves and write proper and clear solutions.* The students believe that Anna primarily assesses work performed during lessons.According to Anna, this is not true, nor is it supported in the curriculum. Annaexplains that while the amount of work performed by the students does affect theirgrades indirectly, this mostly concerns the fact that students who put in little effort donot perform well in tests, either. Anna's opinion is that she does not use workperformed during lessons as a basis for grading.* The students are very vague about the core course content, and none of them reflect onthe fact that they are expected to master every part of this core content. Anna, on theother hand, considers this obvious. She is supported by the curriculum, which statesthat the teaching should cover the core course content.* The students believe that the tests were most important for grading, which wasconfirmed by Anna.My conclusion is that the students have some idea of what is expected of them in mathematicsand that this understanding is partly due to the formative assessment currently used, and partlyon earlier experiences.Validerat; 20120117 (anonymous